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EXTRACTED FROM "THE TIMES" NEWSPAPER, 
OF AUGUST 11, 1834. 



THE DEITY, 

A POEM. 
BY THOMAS RAGG. 



This is a very remarkable production. It is an elaborate philoso- 
phical poem, by a working mechanic of Nottingham — " the testi- 
mony of a converted infidel against the abounding infidelity of the 
age" — written with a view to attract "those who are not aware 
how strong are the foundations of our faith," and whose minds 
revolt at dry abstract reasonings, into the necessary train of evi- 
dence, by the allurements of poetry. 

The work is distributed into three portions. The first is devoted 
to a demonstration of the being of a God, from visible creation 
and uom providence ; the second attempts " the nature of God, 
or the manner of the Divine subsistence," as 'manifested by his at- 
tributes and modes of action ; the subject of the last portion is " God 
revealed," or the mystery of the hypostastic union. The arguments, 
where they are not derived immediately from Scripture, are avowedly 
borrowed from theological and metaphysical writers, particularly 
from Professor Kidd's Views of the Trinity. 

The work of uneducated poets are usually esteemed less for 
ii trinsic excellence than on account of their rarity, and criticism is 
called upon to make large abatements in its demands on this 
score ; but in the present case few or no such allowances need be 
claimed. Many an individual decorated with academical triumphs 
would think it no degradation to own this poem with all its petty 
blemishes, Every page discovers proofs of a vigorous understand- 



ing, a correct taste, great stores of fancy, a wonderful flow of 
elegant and appropriate language, and very considerable powers of 
versification. Mr. Ragg must, indeed, be classed amongst un- 
educated poets with some reservation; his mind has evidently 
ranged over at least a surface of learning of some extent. 

A severe and parsimonious critic might probably find nothing 
in the poem, either in argument or illustration, which is positively 
original ; but the powers of the author are evinced in the use of the 
materials he has borrowed, and especially in his comprehension and 
judicious selection of his arguments, often profound and philosophi- 
cal, which he manages with great precision and perspicuity. He 
may not have invented or fashioned the arms he wields, but it is no 
slender merit to be able to use them with such ease and dexterity. 
Above all, the skill he displays in the difficult art of " reasoning in 
poetry," an art in which, according to Johnson, Pope himself was 
deficient, entitles Mr. Ragg to high praise ; and this quality 
obviates an objection as to the extent of assistance the humble 
poet may have received from others, because it is a strong evidence 
that the fabric of the poem, the web and the woof, must be his 
own. 

Mr. Ragg has evidently constructed his blank-verse after 
Paradise Lost, but without servilely copying that difficult model. 
Milton's verse defies successful imitation : there are not many of his 
admirers who understand its structure. 

The limits of a newspaper restrict us from offering more than a 
single specimen of this poem ; the following passage is selected on 
account of its being short, but it exhibits only the subordinate 
merits of Mr. Ragg — the accuracy and smoothness of his style : — 

" The kind supplies 
Of full provision for all living things 
Declare a general Providence ; and loud 
The seasons speak the same in varied strains ; 
Varied, but their great object ever one ; 
Their themes, the burden of their songs, the same. 
Spring, leaping from the lap of Winter, smiles 
Rejoicing in her glad escape ; and bids 
All nature smile in sympathy. She gives 
The early promise of profusion full, 
Calls on the herbage and the tender grass 
To pierce the soften' d bosom of the earth, 
And from their wintry torpor wakes the trees, ^ 
Quick circulating through each bough and twig 
The vital sap, whose rich exuberance 
Bursts out in blossoms and in foliage green. 



The strength of Summer pushes into life 
Fruits and the seeds of herbage ; to the blade 
Of the young harvest adds the stalk and ear, 
Confirming Spring's first promise ; and rewards 
With store of provender the patient brute, 
Man's fellow labourer in the round of toil. 
Autumn her signet stamps upon the whole, 
That signet whose inscription is — " 'Tis done." 
The face of plenty is in smiles arrayed ,- 
The peasant, joyful, sees his wishes crown'd ; 
And the broad land is with abundance stored. 
Last, Winter comes, and with his freezing breath, 
As in an egg-shell, closes up the earth ; 
AVhile Nature, brooding, sits to germinate, 
And preparation make for Spring's return. 

These, then, in ever changing lays, proclaim 
The being of a Providence ; — and these 
Now whispering soft the incense of sweet youth ; 
Now lifting up a louder note to heaven, 
With the hoarse thunder for its swelling base ; 
Now in the jocund songs of harvest-home ; 
Now bellowing in Winter's dreary blast ; 
Tune their high anthem for the ear of man." 

The subject of the poem must confine it, in some degree, to re- 
ligious readers ; but we shall nevertheless be disappointed if it do 
not reach a high rank in public esteem. Having no veneration for 
modern poetry, or what by courtesy is suffered to enjoy that title, 
our testimony to the merits of Thomas Ragg is not likely to err 
on the side of excess. 

It is fit that the public should know that the pecuniary means 
of this gifted individual are so scanty as to make it impossible for 
him to publish any work at his own expense ; but he has found a 
friend in Mr. Mann, a solicitor of Andover, who has gratuitously 
undertaken all the risk of failure. We think, however, that the 
risk will be very small ; nay, we are sure of the ultimate success of 
the work. The popularity of another powerful poet in the humbler 
walks of life, Ebenezer Elliott, is a guarantee for the success of any 
writer of kindred merit. 



ON THE FIRST OF OCTOBER NEXT 
WILL BE PUBLISHED, 

PRICE 2s. 

THE MARTYR OF VERULAM, 

AND 

OTHER POEMS, 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



THE DEITY. 



THE DEITY. 

A POEM. 

IN TWELVE BOOKS. 

BY THOMAS RAGG. 



3n fottrcfcurtorp 6sisat> 

EY 

ISAAC TAYLOR. 



SECOND EDITION. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED FOR 

LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMAN 

MDCCCXXXIV. 






B, BENSLEY, PRINTER, ANDOVER. 



f 



TO 



JAMES MONTGOMERY, ESQ., 



ifollototng $oem 

is, 

WITH HIS KIND PERMISSION 

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY 

HIS OBLIGED, 

HUMBLE SERVANT, 

THE AUTHOR. 






PREFACE. 



To those who have seen the Author's former 
work, " The Incarnation and other poems," but 
few prefatory remarks are necessary. It may 
be needful, however, to state, for the information 
of those who have not, that this " testimony of a 
converted Infidel against the abounding infidelity 
of the age," is the production of a working me- 
chanic ; whose principal reason for undertaking 
a task of such magnitude was the idea that many, 
who are not aware how strong are the foundations 
of our faith, might be induced, by its flowers and 
images, to go through a long train of evidence in 
poetry, whose minds would nauseate dry and un- 
adorned abstract argument. The work is divided 
into three parts of four books each ; the first on the 
being, the second on the nature, of God, the 



Vlll PREFACE. 

third on God revealed : and the design of the 
whole is to demonstrate that the God to whose 
existence both nature and reason bear witness is 
the same Being who is revealed to us in the Holy 
Scriptures. 

Keeping in mind his original intention in the 
undertaking, the author (while endeavouring to 
select its most picturesque phase) has not entirely 
avoided any subject from which he thought de- 
monstration might be gained, on account of its 
real or apparent prosaic nature. He is constrain- 
ed, however, to confess that in several places in 
the first eight books, more especially in the latter 
part of the sixth, he found it required some trou- 
ble and patience (notwithstanding the embellish- 
ments flowed spontaneously,) to bring into good 
poetical measure science, philosophy, and meta- 
phisical abstractions ; and make his statements, 
at the same time, with such condensed clearness, 
that ordinary intellect might both grasp and 
understand them. 

It may be needful to remark that the words 
" mode," " person, " and " hypostasis," are for 
poetical reasons, frequently used to express the 
same meaning when applied to the distinct modes 
of subsistence of the tri-une-God. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Poetry may claim to be the natural mode of ex- 
pressing those great truths that are always associated 
with ideas of beauty and grandeur. Perhaps it might 
even be affirmed that in this form only can such 
principles be presented, unimpaired and in full force, 
to the human mind : at least, it is certain that the 
combination of the reasoning faculty with imaginative 
tastes and the poetic sentiment peculiarly favours the 
apprehension of those sublime doctrines wherein the 
highest abstractions are intimately blended with con- 
ceptions of vastness, harmony, felicity, and goodness. 
A style rigid and severe, abhorrent of figures, and 
addressed solely to the reasoning powers, is indeed 
proper when we have to do with physical science, or 
when single abstract principles of any sort are to be 
unfolded and pursued. Our business in all such cases 
-is to sever certain elements from whatever they may 



X INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

stand connected with, whether in themselves, or in 
the natural associations of our own minds. But in 
proportion as we ascend toward a loftier sphere, and 
approach the highest truths, this kind cf analysis 
becomes more and more difficult, if not absolutely 
impracticable ; or, if actually effected, it is at the cost 
and damage of the principles we are labouring to 
evolve. True theology cannot be brought into the 
form of a collection of separate and independent 
axioms ; for the Divine Nature, of which theology 
treats, is not a congeries of distinct powers and qual- 
ities, but rather is the one absolute circle of all energies 
and virtues. Hence it happens often, that, when 
most we desire to present truth to other minds, or to 
our own, in the whole of its power and grandeur, then 
most we fail ; and this because, in compliance with 
our established philosophic methods of analysis, we 
labour to place asunder the elements of that nature, 
the attributes of which are in fact indissoluble, even 
in idea. 

Neither the poet nor the metaphysician can speak 
of God in terms adequate to the subject. The best 
we can think or say must still be unworthy of the 
Infinite Being; and yet it may be that the poet, or 
the man of devout meditation, shall approximate to 
the eternal glory some degrees nearer than the most 
exact philosopher can do ; inasmuch as the former, 
by the habit of his mind, regards in the concrete that 
which the latter vainly endeavours to think of in the 
abstract. Man, created as he was in the image of 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XI 

God ; may, within certain bounds, think rightly of 
his Maker, so long as he bends at once upon this 
contemplation the whole of his faculties and his 
powers of feeling ; but he will never do so by the 
exercise of a single faculty. The field of vision, in any 
one of the inlets of knowledge, is far too narrow to 
allow of our receiving, through that channel alone, 
a just conception of boundless perfections. We can 
know little or nothing of the Infinite glory unless our 
entire nature, with the little complement of its 
powers, sentiments, and affections, be all expanded 
and exposed, basking in the light of heaven. 

The works of God, even the greatest of them, 
being finite, may be grasped and understood by finite 
powers, and may come under the cognizance of a 
single faculty. The heavens may be measured, and 
the celestial motions reduced to rule : not so the per- 
fections of the Creator ; for He, being infinite, is not 
a compound of wisdom, power, and love ; but is him- 
self Wisdom, and Power, and Love, absolute. In 
turning from the creation to the Creator, and in 
withdrawing the mind from things visible, and in 
directing it towards that which is invisible and eter- 
nal, an alternate consideration of those several 
perfections which we assign to the Supreme Being 
conveys, not merely defective, but even false notions 
of each ; for each is not what it seems while we are 
viewing it apart. God is not to be dismembered ; 
but the philosophic method of pursuing truth is 
nothing more than a separation of elements. 



Xll INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

Those who have imbibed the modesty of genuine 
philosophy will not be reluctant to admit that the 
first and. greatest of all truths stands excepted from 
the range of that logic which we properly apply to 
all inferior truths. We may catch for an instant, or 
by a momentary concentration of our moral and 
rational consciousness, dim conceptions of the Divine 
Nature, such as we shall never be able to bring under 
scientific definition ; and yet these evanescent im- 
pressions, though not to be distinctly embodied in 
words, may, in part at least, transpire through the 
language we employ when travailing with sacred 
themes. Or, if nothing more is done, the poet, or 
the meditative writer, may, even when he feels to 
have failed, yet kindle in other bosoms a fire, which, 
being cherished, shall ascend as a flame to heaven. 

The poet, then, shall perhaps outstrip the theolo- 
gian and the philosopher in essaying the attributes 
of Him whose perfections indissolubly combine what- 
ever reason can grasp, whatever the imagination can 
conceive, and. whatever the moral sense apprehends. 
The poet, in undertaking a task of this exalted 
order, implicitly professes, not merely to follow in 
the track of philosophy, and to gather up the flowers 
she may have forgotten ; but to lead the way whither 
science dares not go, and to make an inroad upon the 
vast unknown. Or, if so high an ambition would be 
disclaimed, he at least proposes to lend his aid to 
other and less adventurous minds, in reaching that 
bright sphere where great objects are seen to be great, 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. Xlll 

and where the symmetry and beauty of truth are 
beheld from a vantage point. 

It is in fact always from some such position that 
we gain, if at all, an enhancement of our faith in 
things unseen. Powerful convictions, on whatever 
subject, are drawn from considering the objects of 
them in the concrete, rather than analytically, or 
in the abstract, and it is especially so in religion. 
Even the beauty and order of the material world, 
distinctly as it speaks of the divine wisdom and 
goodness, does not powerfully impress the mind with 
the belief of a Being near us, who is at work, pro- 
ducing, sustaining, and renewing all, until after we 
have, through other channels, received a moral im- 
pression of the Divine Personality. When by medi- 
tation, and the mental habits consequent upon devo- 
tion, we have learned to think of God as the Invisible 
Father of our spirits — the Hearer of prayer— the Lord 
of conscience— the Ruler of the world — the Disposer 
of events, and the Centre of hope, — it is then that 
the mechanism of nature, and the beauty of her 
garb, and the beneficence displayed in the great 
system of life sensibly affect the soul, and become 
articulate. First be acquainted with the Author of 
the world, and discern Him by spiritual perceptions, 
and then " day unto day will utter speech, and night 
unto night shew knowledge." 

Whoever needs or imagines that he needs scien- 
tific demonstration of the being and attributes of the 
Deity, will assuredly seek for it elsewhere than in 



XIV INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

a poem. The poet assumes in his readers what he 
must possess himself, or he would be no poet, namely 
— those unsophisticated sensibilities and that genuine 
and vigorous good sense which, with the spectacle 
of nature before us, supersede the forms of rigid 
argumentation. And so, as he advances to the inte- 
rior of his subject, and comes to speak of the great 
mysteries of the Gospel, that state of mind must be 
supposed which is necessary to the perception of 
these higher truths. To establish them on biblical 
evidence is the business of the theologian. To ex- 
hibit them in their majesty and force is a task which 
the poet may undertake ; and he acquits himself well 
if he actually enhances the convictions and animates 
the pious affections of those who already possess, 
or are prepared to receive, the elements of faith. 

We claim then for the christian poet a proper 
place, and a peculiar function, on the broad field 
of sacred truth ; and we affirm too, that his con- 
ceptions and his glowing emotions in relation to 
beauty and sublimity, give him a special advantage 
on this ground. We must not however be thought 
to fall into the extravagance of thinking that the Poet 
can change places with the Christian Teacher, or 
that his office can have a universal aspect. All men 
are immortal, all are liable to future judgment, and 
all, without distinction of personal dispositions or 
tastes, are to be appealed to as equally concerned in 
the proposals of mercy. But it is a class only to 
whom the poet can, with any expectation of success, 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XV 

address himself. The imagination, and the finer 
sensibilities connected with it, are, in not a few 
minds, mere rudiments, inert and never to be aroused. 
Nevertheless the proportion of those who might be 
awakened to the pleasures of taste is perhaps greater 
than we sometimes think ; and it is certainly an error 
to suppose that poetry is a luxury proper for the opu- 
lent and the educated, and which can be relished 
only by those who have plenty of leisure. The con- 
trary is a fact fully established, and established, 
among ourselves by more than a few illustrious in- 
stances of genius making its way from the humblest 
rank, through all obstacles, to the high ground of 
fame. 

Independently of other evidence of the fact, it 
may be assumed as certain that the class, whether 
high or low, which produces poets, contains also 
many who are, or who might be, readers of poetry. 
It is a fair presumption that where there is one poet, 
there are hundreds of lovers of verse. A Burns, a 
Bloomfield, and others easily named, prove what one 
would fain believe, that among the tens of thousands 
crowded around the steam engine, as well as among 
our rural population, toil, privation, and care, have 
not altogether crushed fine sensibilities, nor prevented 
the expansion of delicate and ennobling tastes. 

His proper merits apart, (of which the public has 
already agreed to think highly) the author of the 
poem now given to the world will be hailed by en- 
lightened lovers of their country, and by every phi- 



XVI INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

lanthropist, as coming forward to furnish implicit, 
yet conclusive, evidence on the question, whether the 
British manufacturing economy, heavily as it presses 
upon the operative class, is actually as incompatible 
as it may seem with that personal dignity, intelli- 
gence, and feeling of which we must mourn to see 
any of our fellow-men and brethren hopelessly de- 
prived. The tremendous manufacturing system of 
modern times, still untried as it is in the whole of the 
influence it may exert over our national destinies, 
does not (as we see) necessarily degrade and vilify the 
parties whose physical agency puts it in movement. 
Even if we had no other proof, we have one now, 
not merely that a mechanic may think and feel as 
a poet and a philosopher ; but (which is of more 
moment) that mechanics may do so ; and that many 
who ply the shuttle, or urge the furnace, are mem- 
bers of the intellectual and literary commonwealth, 
and moreover stand ready to receive the benefit of 
any generous and well concerted endeavours that 
might be made for laying open to them the intel- 
lectual wealth with which the English language is 
fraught. 

A while ago any attempt to bring the higher 
doctrines of science within the range of the artizan 
would have been thought utterly chimerical. Or 
what would have seemed mere unlikely to take place 
than that men occupying the first rank in the several 
departments of philosophy, should be heard announc- 
ing their latest discoveries in abstruse science to 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XVII 

penny purchasers, and should be seen inviting, not 
collegians but cottagers, not Oxford and Cambridge, 
but Manchester and Leeds, to climb with them the 
steep ascents of knowledge ! 

What is now doing, and with much success, in 
diffusing physical and mathematical science, should 
encourage parallel enterprises in relation to elegant 
literature. We ought to adjudge it an unfounded 
and illiberal prejudice which would frown upon any 
such endeavours. Our fellow countrymen of the 
labouring class, let us believe it, are more of men 
than we, in our self-conceit and pride, may have 
thought them. Burdened indeed, and care worn, 
but not crushed, they v/ould communicate with us, 
in whatever cheers, refines, and ennobles existence ; 
nay, would perhaps generously contend with us for 
the laurels of literary and philosophic fame. Far 
from washing jealously to repress this ambition, those 
competent to do so would use every means in their 
power to cherish it. If we would fain abate the fruit- 
less and dangerous vehemence of political feeling, and 
would gladly soften the ferocity belonging to impa- 
tient penury and despair, let the tepid streams of 
literature, as well as the invigorating currents of 
science, be set in flow over the levels of society ; let 
intellectual tastes be awakened, and let the mild plea- 
sures of the imagination be copiously supplied with 
materials. 

The zealous friends of religion need not fear lest, 
in such undertakings, Christianity should be super- 



XV111 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

seded or forgotten. Christianity is in peril on many- 
sides rather than on the side of popular intelligence ; 
and our solicitude for truth might be better directed 
than in anxiously watching the advances of know- 
ledge. Knowledge must advance, and our only rea- 
sonable fear is lest it should be poisoned at the spring. 
To preclude so fatal a mischief, and it is an evil that 
has actually occurred in other countries, and to some 
extent in our own, prompt and efficacious encourage- 
ment should be afforded to whatever is found to be 
free from the taint we dread ; and much more to 
whatever breathes the purity of truth. 

A noble sort of devotion would it be at the pre- 
sent moment, when the popular mind is quickening 
into life, for men of genius who are free to choose 
their course, and may undertake what task they will, 
to forget the gilded laurels they might win elsewhere, 
and to covet rather the wreath of civic oak, conferred 
by the suffrage of the grateful many — the sons of 
toil and care. Let the experiment be tried of writing 
on the loftiest themes, and yet in a style that should 
recommend those themes to the thinking and the 
feeling portion of the common people. Let our 
artizans and mechanics be furnished with elevated, 
generous, and genuine sentiments, embodied ex- 
pressly for their use in pure and majestic English, 
by the masters of thought and language. Works of 
this sort would be labours worthy of patrician minds, 
and sure of immortality. — Professors of physical 
science are already so employed ; why may not poets 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XIX 

and the leaders of our general literature follow their 
example ? 

A condescension of this sort (if indeed it be ever 
a condescension on the part of man to labour for 
the benefit of his fellows) would not fail to be res- 
ponded to by the native genius that lies unknown or 
unquickened among the people. Works such as the 
one now given to the public, the production of gifted 
minds, struggling against their lot, would not un- 
frequently enrich our language ; and ere long we 
should possess a literature such as the world has 
never yet seen, created for The People, and by 
them. 

In such a literature, if indeed we are to see it 
produced, it is not hazardous to predict for the Au- 
thor of the Poem which occupies this volume a 
prominent and honourable place. 

Stanford Rivers, 
August 1, 1834. 



THE DEITY. 

PART I. 
THE BEING OF A GOD 

ASSERTED BY 

CREATION AND PROVIDENCE. 



One Almighty is, 
From whom all things proceed. 

Milton. 



The object of this first portion of this Poem is to prove the 
existence of a self-living, infinite Intelligence, notwithstanding 
all the cavils of the atheist. I have treated the subject somewhat 
at large (though aiming at brevity), in order to combat all the 
main objections hitherto brought forward. I do not pretend that 
all the modes of argument made use of are my own ; some of 
them, indeed, are, in a great degree, borrowed ; nor do I esteem 
it plagiarism, in a work like this, to make use of what light the 
profound researches of others have thrown upon the subject, 
provided the classification of the materials, and the poetical illus- 
trations, be original. But, as I wish to give all due praise to 
those who, under God's blessing, have laboured hard for the 
edification of their fellow-men, I would here mention that the 
principal assistance met with in this part of the work has been 
from the writings of Messrs. Allin, Unwin, Drew, and Barclay. 



THE DEITY. 



BOOK I. 



ANALYSIS. 



The general subject of the poem proposed, with an opening Ad- 
dress to the Deity. — A Summer Landscape drawn. — The 
Thanksgiving of all lesser created Objects, and Man's scep- 
tical Refusal to join the general Song. — The comparative 
Happiness of the Christian and the Infidel. — Hasty review of 
Nature, and enquiry after its Origin. — Closer Investigation 
of the same, with the Evidence it furnishes of Contrivance 
and Design. 



THE DEITY 



book r. 



Great Power Supreme ! of life the Fountain-spring- 
Of life and all things — whose Almighty hand 
Has deck'd immensity w T ith countless worlds, 
To tell of Thine existence ;— Increate, 
Ineffable, I AM ! assist my tongue 
To sing, and on me shed Thine influence down 
In rich profusion ; while my daring muse, 
Though young, and unsupplied with classic lore 
From those full stores of learning where the youth 
Of Britain bask in its delightful beams , 
Uplifts itself to Thee. To Thee my song 
Aspires. Thy kindly hand, great God of love ? 
That reach'd from the' empyreal realms of bliss 

B 



THE DEITY, [PART I. 

To hell, and manhood in its grasp upbore, — 

Snatch'd me, a rebel, from destruction's jaws, 

When I denied Thee. And shall I be dumb, 

And look with cold indifference on the scene, 

While thousands still run wildly in the paths 

Where late my footsteps moved 5 blaspheme Thy name. 

And seek for knowledge of all else but Thee' 

Ah no ! the great, the' exalted task be mine 

To shew from nature its primeval source ; 

Through finite things to trace the Infinite; 

To testify His word's unfailing truth, 

Despite the' aspersions of its vaunting foes ; 

And sing His praise who taught me first to sing. 

Awake my harp ! the tide of poesy 
Comes rushing o'er my soul. Continual toil 
And penury may, through the day's long hours. 
Enchain the spirit of inspiring song : 
But when the busy world is hush'd in sleep, 
Scorning all shackles of an earthly kind, 
She sallies forth in freedom. UncontrolFd 
Then spreads her wings, exulting, on the air - 7 
O'er land and flood impetuous sweeps along 3 
And, as sole empress of the midnight hour, 
Claims all things for her own. Awake, my harp I 
The noblest theme that ever mortals sang 
Demands thy tuneful strains. To God ! to God ! 
Uplift thy voice on high ! Of Him I sing, 
Whose uncreated glories shine so fair 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. ^ 

In the bright mirror of created things ; 
Of Him, who, ere the birth of ancient Time, 
Or ere Duration yet had burst the womb 
Of old Eternity — ere suns and worlds 
Ecstatic smiFd, or Chaos wildly roared, 
In the wide regions of this great immense- 
Existed, ever living Source of all. 

The Deity ! the vast, stupendous thought 
Demands the utmost stretch of every power 
Of intellect to compass it : but, stretch'd 
To all their width, our mental faculties 
Can no more grasp it than the hand of Time 
Can grasp Eternity. I gaze around 
On nature : I behold the various forms 
Of being ; from the grass beneath my feet, 
To man, the sovereign of all things below, 
World, sun, and system ; through ethereal realms 
I see ten thousand times ten thousand suns 
Revolving on in their majestic course, 
Uncheck'd, unstay'd, unalter'd; and can read 
In these His name who made and guides the whole, 
"These are Thy glorious works : Parent of good, 
Almighty ! Thine this universal frame I" 
Yet these are but Thy works. Thine awful self 
How great ! how wonderful ! the universe 
Is but, as 'twere, the throne on which Thou sitt'st, 
Clothed in the garments of Omnipotence, 
Crowned with a wreath of uncreated light, 

b2 



4 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Begirt with truth, and holding in Thine hand 

The sceptre of all rule. Dread Power ! dread King ! 

Musing on Thee, I shrink to nothingness ; 

And this round world, where all my fathers dwelt, 

This world, where Thou wast " manifest in flesh/* 

Redeemer, Renovator, Prince of Peace, 

Seems but an atom floating in the beams 

Of day's resplendent orb. 

Awake ! awake ! 
Enthusiastic rapture ! " Lend your wings,'" 
Archangels ! Higher, higher let me rise 
Up to the heaven of heavens, and see my God 
In vision full. The great Eternal draws 
His veil aside ! The stars are lost in light ! 
Heaven's brightest suns in their meridian strength 
Look dim ! Angelic and seraphic hosts 
Cover their faces with their spreading wings, 
And low, in adoration, bow their heads 
Before Him : while the sceptre of His hands 
Displays the essence of His sovereign power. 
The spell by which He governs finite things, 
The fountain-source of His creative acts, — 
There written in eternal day-beams — Love. 
The grateful incense of a myriad worldSj 
Rises before Him in one fragrant cloud 5 
And every spanglet in immensity 
Catches the glance of His observant eye. 
Oh, glory ! Light of all material light ! 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 3 

Life of all life ! Strength of all strength ! Great spring 

Of being, and all good that being yields ! 

On Thee the muse would fondly fix her eyes , 

But, dazzled by thy bright effulgent beams, 

She sinks to earth again. And not for thee, 

Aspiring muse, are regions fair as these. 

When scarce commenced is thy long scene of toil. 

Through nature we must trace our arduous way., 

And shew Jehovah as its sovereign Lord, 

Ere yet we stand before His naming throne, 

And join the hymn of sacred rapture there. 

A philosophic task indeed ; but one 

Not unpoetic, while the smiling fields 

Of this creation sparkle bright with flowers. 

Oh ! Thou Eternal ! Thou Almighty One ! 
In whom, and of whom, all things are and were 5 
My God ! my Father ! with indulgent eye 
Upon the imperfections of the song 
Look down (as what can in perfection come 
From one so frail ?) <, and should Thy goodness aught 
Of wisdom deign me, and Thy powerful hand 
Use these my feeble lines as instruments 
Of lasting good, then, while my tongue sends forth 
The incense of a grateful heart to Thee, 
Be all the glory Thine^ whose sovereign grace 
Has taught those lips, once touch'd with gall, Thy praise - 

'Tis summer 3 down the slope the lordly sun 
Refulgent moves; his fierce enkindling beams 



6 THE DEITV. |_PART I. 

Shoot thro 1 the heaven askance with scorching power, 

As though intent each landscape to despoil 

Of charms they gave : but, loaded with the sweets 

Of herbs and flow'rets odoriferous, 

Shed on its wings, the gently rising gale 

Softens the else oppressive heat, and keeps 

The drowsy senses waking. Nature looks 

Lovely. The hills arrayed in various shades 

Of eye-invigorating green 5 — the vales, 

Rife with the most luxuriant fruits of love, 

Borne to the ever-wooing orb of light, 

Though oft hid from his eye, while o'er the tops 

Of mountains darts a gleam of ecstasy $ — 

The woodlands, blooming in their thousand hues 5 — 

The winding river, now exposed to sight, 

Now hid by thickets, or the sudden slope 

Of intervening hills (as memory's lines, 

Drawn over sunny landscapes rich and fair, 

Are parted oft by lowering clouds of woe, 

In which the soul scarce dares to force its way, 

Lest, haply, the intrusive step should wake 

The slumbering lightnings from their darksome beds,, 

Rousing deep feeling from its hiding-place) — 

The scattered haunts of men — the villages 

Irregularly built — and lofty spires, 

Like wisdom's finger, pointing up to heaven,— 

Present a prospect pleasing to the eye, 

And waken in the ever-conscious heart 



BOOK 1.] THE DEITY. .Jf 

Feelings of lively transport. All is joy; 
And animated beings, — most of all 
The feather'd race, the choristers of day, — 
Utter their raptures in one mingled song. 

But wherefore sing they — wherefore pour on air 
Their notes mellifluent ? why murmurs thus 
The river in its winding course ? why hum 
The insect tribes ? ye woodland melodists, 
Is love your only theme ? Do ye but tell, 
In strains I've oft delighted stopp'd to hear, 
When strolling down some solitary lane 
To hold communion with myself and God, 
Your fondness in each other's listening ears ? 
Are" all thy murmurings but to boast, oh Trent, 
Thy current's strength as swift it moves along 3 
Or fright some truant boy, who, starting, (i hears, 
Or thinks he hears," the spirits of the flood 
Singing their dirges in those hollow sounds ? 
Do ye but hum, ye busy tribes of things, 
Who flit so thickly in the sunny ray, 
To pitch the key for some fond mocking child, 
Who imitates you as he listless strays ? 
Ah no ! these sing Jehovah^s lofty praise, 
And tell His goodness, undeserved, unbought, 
Who "satisfies each living thing's desire. 
And clothes the earth with fatness;" while proud man, 
More highly favoured, his vicegerent here, 
Denies the tribute of a grateful song, 



8 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And thinks his praise a burden. 

Lord most high ! 
Is he not then thy debtor ? Has he nought 
For which to praise Thee ? Can he gaze around 
On nature's beauteous frame, behold the hills 
Lift their green heads on high to kiss the clouds 
That bring them the refreshing showers, the fields. 
In undulating plenty, smiling fair, 
And gardens rich with vegetable stores,— 
And see nought here ? Or can he look on home, 
His dear, dear home (for home must needs be dear, 
If human feeling in his bosom dwell), 
And find no cause of fond excitement there ? 
Brings love no pleasure ? Does that small remains 
Of Thy bright image, once so perfect borne, 
Awake no joy to draw forth all his powers 
In gratitude and love to Him that gave ? 
Has he a tender partner, one whose life 
Is his life ? Has he children, buds of joy 
Just opening, like young flow'rets, to perfume 
His paths with richest sweets, unknown before ? 
" These are Thy gifts/' Thou Giver of all good, 
From w 7 hom all true substantial bliss proceeds, 
And these demand that strain so oft denied. 

And sweet it is to praise Thee ; sweet to live 
Dependent on Thy aid j sweet 'tis to love 
And fear Thee ; and ah ! who that from the soul 
Has called Thee father, and has felt the chain 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 

Of filial love fast binding him to Thee, 

Could wrench the staple forth that closely holds 

The first link to his bosom, and not feel 

The gush of life-blood from the deep, deep wound, 

Or ever find those orifices filled, 

Except by that which he had wrench'd away : 

Oh ! there are joys the Christian's bosom knows 
Which others cannot know. He has a peace 
That nothing can destroy, — the peace of God, 
Which passeth understanding; — he, a hope 
That not the clods of earth flung over him 
Can smother, when the dews of death descend, 
And in the narrow house are laid at last 
The poor remains of his mortality ; 
A hope that holds him up till death, nor then 
Could it deceive him, would the unfelt loss 
Prevent annihilation's soft repose. 
And he possesses love, of strength unknown s 
A love which all creation cannot bound, 
A spark of fervour from the' Eternal mind. 
Ascending ever to its Parent Source ! 

And what hast thou, oh sceptic ! to return, 
If we would give up immortality 
For the vain pleasures of this passing scene ? 
What recompense hast thou for joys like these l 
A freedom from restraint, a liberty 
To let licentious passion run its length, 
Without the dread of a requking hand ; 

e5 



10 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And freedom from the fear of waking up 

To judgment, from our last, long, dreamless sleep ? 

Sad pitiable barter ! poor exchange ! 

Who that has tasted the good word of God, 

And felt the powers of that bright world to come, 

Would part with solid gold for dross like this ? 

Would yield up bliss for that which is at best 

A mere release from pangs he does not know ? 

Art thou a member of earth's commonwealth, 
And eould'st thou wish that man's licentious hand 
Might hold the balance and the rod, unchecked 
By any Power above him ? unrestraint! 
By One who can his daring acts controul, 
And recompense according to his deeds } 
Art thou a father r hast thou children, fair, 
Lov'd ones, just rising into life's full bloom, 
Subject to all its strange vicissitudes ; 
And couldst thou wish no guardian power o'er them, 
While thick temptations all around them crowd, 
Save thine own watchful eye, which soon may close 
For ever ? Could'st thou wish no guiding hand 
Might lead them safely through the paths of youth. 
So slippery that most are apt to slide ? 
Art thou possess'd of life ? and can'st thou wish 
That life may cease when three-score years and ten 
Have silver'd o'er thy brows and ripened thee 
For the fell tyrant's sickle ? can'st thou wish 
That then thy every faculty may fail, 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. ' I 

And thou may'st be as though thou ne'er had'st been ? 

Art thou a mourner ? has thine eye been wet 

With tears for some loved creature, deemed erewhiie 

Attractive, which eluded thine embrace, 

And left thee desolate ? and would'st thou choose 

The cherish'd object, to thyself most dear. 

Might ne'er awaken from its long dark sleep, 

And thou behold it ? would it solace thee, 

Fond mother, that the offspring of thy pains 

Had sunk in peaceful slumber ne'er to wake ? 

Would it repay thee for thy labour's pangs, 

Thy ceaseless vigils, and thine anxious cares, 

To think that head which thou had' si pillow'd oft 

Upon thy bosom, whil'st its sparkling eyes 

Were fixed on thine with smiles as pure as those 

With which the morning gilds the face of heaven, 

Was laid at length upon the earth's cold breast, 

Dreamless to sleep duration's night away $ 

To think that frame o'er which thou oft had'st watch'd 

W T hile slumbering, or cradled in thine arms, 

Or press'd with rapture by the throbbing heart, 

Itself enraptured by the warmth of love,. 

Drawn, pure as ether, with the milky stream 

From thy maternal breast, — has sunk to rest — - 

Has fallen from those arms into the grave,- — 

Is taken from thee— is for ever gone ? 

No 5 no. For then were grief a hopeless thing 5 

And at each turn of each lamenting strain, 



1°- THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Would these sad accents vibrate on the ear_ 
" For ever !" 

When, upon the wings of fame 
The loved ones' names are borne from shore to shore, 
Since after death at least they seem to live, 
There is some little comfort for the mind 
That, living, feels the keenest pang of death. 
But there are others, deeply loved as those, 
Whom earth ne'er misses when asleep they fall, 
Nor asks the voice of nations " Where are they ?" 
Whose only monument is some fond muK^ 
Where all their virtues upon record stand, 
As legibly engrav'd as they could be 
On marble tablet 5 and whose only urn 
In some fond bleeding, desolated heart, 
W r hich would as sacredly its ashes keep 
As one of gold 3 but urn and monument 
Must be, ere long, like that which they enshrine 
And would perpetuate : and what can cheer 
The mourner's soul when such a being fails ? 
What glorious thought can fill the vacant chair — 
What balm can rob the rent heart of its pains — 
What, but the visions of a better world ? 

Oh ! I have dreamed when I have gazed upon 
Some placid face, o'er which the sleep of death 
Came softly, as the summer evening's shades 
Spread o'er the' horizon of the parted soul 
Bathing in bliss, and those re-open'd eyes 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 13 

Glowing with lively rapture to behold 

A present Saviour. I have fondly mus'd, 

When, from some lover, death's cold hand has torn 

The object of his heart, of a fair realm 

Where sighs at parting shall be known no more. 

The tyrant's arm unnerv'd. And I have thought, 

When deeply sinking in affliction's stream, 

Of a bright land, where every tear is dried ; 

Where every bodily and mental pang 

Shall cease j where sorrow shall be chased away, 

And all be joy, transcendent, lasting joy. 

And are they all but visions ? must they all 
Vanish (like landscapes, pictured by the mist 
In the dim twilight shade,) before the beams 
Of the returning day ? Are all our hopes 
But like the boreal flame, or fairy dreams, 
Deluding us with pleasure down the stream 
Of life, to leave us in the darksome grave 
Cold and annihilate ? It cannot be ! 
The works of nature speak a Power Supreme ! 
The Power Supreme reveals Himself to man. 
And tells of immortality and joy ! 
Nor shall our hopes of glory be destroy'd 
By sceptics' sophistry or sceptics' sneers ! 

Is there no God ? Who spread the firmament 
Abroad ? Whence came that visible display 
Of inconceivable immensity. 



14 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Which, being no subsistence of itself, 
In some subsistence surely must inhere ? 

At whose command rush'd forth the starry orbs, 
Innumerable host ! on the strong holds 
Of universal night, who, seizing each 
A portion of her realm, keep garrison, 
Like satrap kings, in their own regal sphere ? 
Who wheel' d their systems round those central stars 
And keeps them moving in majestic dance — 
While order smiles where once wild chaos reign'd ? 

Whose was the arm, omnipotent, unseen, 
That through its orbit bowl'd the earth along ; 
The arm whose hand in mercy is held o'er her, 
Wide open to supply her every need ? 

Who bade the moon, heaven's chief night-sentinel, 
Earth's fair companion, keep such constant watch 
Over the realms of darkness 5 and with song 
Unceasing woo the waters, as she goes, 
That, like a faithful lover, follow on 
To catch the smiling aspect of her eye ? 

Who call'd to being yonder glowing sun, 
That now appears as rushing down heaven's steep 
To bathe its hot frame in the cooling wave, 
Or sink to slumber upon beds of ooze ? 
Who fills it with exhaustless stores of light 
And heat refulgent, which, though man may dream 
Of hours of coming dimness, when its lid 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 15 

Shall fall so heavy o'er its eye of fire, 

That it shall sleep upon its golden clouds, 

Heedless of morning's sweet awak'ning voice, 

Or of a distant season when, consumed 

By its own strength, like unrequited love. 

Its body shall be crusted with a shroud, 

And one sad lingering parting look be given. 

As a fond farewell to the darken'd worlds, 

That, frantic at the loss of one so dear, 

Shall run eonfus'dly through the realms of space,— 

Which, though man dream of these and stranger things, 

While the same power that plac'd them there still bids 

Unchanging rest, unchanging will remain, 

And keep it full of youthful strength, as when 

Its first ray darted upon infant Time ? 

Who brought these wond'rous elements to birth, 
Earth, air, fire, water,— all of them composed 
Of atoms various in their properties* 
And all, as science tells, resolvable 
If decompos'd, and then combined anew 
With some slight change, to any of the rest ; 
And thus dispersed them, in proportions fair. 
Pregnant with beauty, and with usefulness ? 

W T ho clothed the earth with vegetable green* 
Supplying food and med'cine for the use 
Of man and every animated thing ? 
And who those animated creatures formed, 
And gave the principle of active life 



16 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

With instincts to sustain it ? 

Sprang these all 
From utter nothingness ? a dark, a vast, 
A nameless void — eternity and space, 
Unoccupied by being ? sprang they all 
From nothingness ? from that which had no spring. 
No vital powers, no latent properties, 
No faculties to generate, or give 
Existence or duration ? Sprang they all 
From nothingness? interminable waste, 
Where power, without whose aid the slightest breath 
Could ne'er be drawn, could never be respir'd: 
Without whose aid an atom could not be, 
Or, being, could not move along the expanse, — 
Where wisdom, which the fashioning of aught 
To any use adapted, plainly shews 3 — 
And goodness, through all nature manifest 
To all, except the sceptic's jaundiced eye, 
Had no existence, were not, could not be r 
Was this their origin ? Does nothing shew, 
In the bright page of this immensity, 
Some symptoms of intelligence ? are all 
So palpably the jumblings of blind chance 
In the long revels of eternity ? 
Canst thou, O Atheist, while professing still 
To rest on evidence of sense alone, 
Indulge a dream so vague ? Is blindness thine ? 
Is reason's lamp extinguish'd by the spray 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 17 

From errors fount flung o'er thee, that on this, 
As on the rock of truth, thou can'st repose, 
Rather than own the being of a God ? 

Were a vain worm, whose solitude's disturbed 
By the hoarse clanking of some huge machine, 
To pass its judgment on the ponderous loom, 
T would doubtless see but small contrivance there ! 
But shall a reasonable creature judge 
With equal blindness, when, where'er he turns 
His eyes, he meets with constant evidence 
Of wisdom, power, and goodness infinite ? 
What fell enchantment holds thee in its grasp, 
What strange delusion captivates thy soul, 
That thou should'st thus rush madly upon death 
And error, from the blaze of light and truth ? 
Alas ! 'tis love ! 'tis love, the strongest tie 
That nature knows ! 'tis love, whose triple chain 
The captive hugs, and, though it chafe his soul, 
Still hugs it fondly ! love, that in its pride 
Can laugh at death, and think its strongest cords 
But spider webs ! love, that will gravitate 
Towards its object, which with mighty force 
Centripetal, still in its orbit holds, 
Till some more strong attraction drag it thence ! 
Love, that upon its idol fondly doats, 
And 'gainst conviction shuts its useless eyes ! 
Love, that can lift to heaven or blast to hell ! 
Tis love, for which thou giv'st up life and peace ; 



THE DEITY. [pART I. 

And hugg'st in thine embrace eternal death : 
Tis this — thou " lovest darkness more than light, 
Because thy deeds are evil 3" and the thought 
Of God and judgment strikes thee with dismay. 

Oh nature ! with delight I gaze on thee ! 
For to my soul thou'rt like the ladder seen 
By Isaac's dreaming son, a path direct 
By which the raptur'd vision can ascend 
From earth to heaven, from finite things to Him, 
The Infinite, who, from the boundless waste 
Of nothingness, or from the dark abyss 
Of Chaos, call'd them forth ; since all I see, 
Through all the* illimitable realms of space, 
To me the' indelible impression bears 
Of power and grace divine. 

When night has thrown 
Her spangled mantle o'er the arch of heaven, 
And through the' ethereal purple lit the rays 
Of her innumerous watch-fires, orbs of light 
That from their distance shed a feeble gleam 
Upon the speck we dwell on, then I love 
(My daily labour ended) from the top 
Of some green hill, or from my casement's height, 
To gaze around. 

Oh ! what a prospect then 
Is spread before me ! Multitudinous, 
As sands upon the ocean's drifted shore, 
Worlds gleaming from behind less distant worlds 5 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 19 

Or suns, around whose lamps whole systems move, 

Bespeak their Maker's hand. M The heavens declare 

His matchless glory, and the firmament 

Sheweth his handy work. Day unto day 

Uttereth speech -, and to succeeding night 

Night sheweth knowledge/' nor is there a tongue 

In which the small voice is not understood : 

For, like the silent eloquence of love, 

By none, save those who cannot feel its force, 

Their language is mistaken ; known alike 

By those whom science calls her darling sons 

And the dark savage in his distant wild. 

What say the stars to him ? He knoweth not 

Their use j and haply looks upon the heaven 

As but the radiant pavement of that hall 

In which enthron'd superior beings sit 

To hold their counsels on the' affairs of men. 

What say they then to him ? Oh, he can class 

Sufficiently the gem-like things he views 

In hieroglyphic characters of flame 

To spell the name of Deity ; though oft 

The child of fairer climes, whose lips can speak 

The names of hundreds, as they twinkling rise, 

And tell their distance and their magnitude. 

Denies a God's existence. 

Boundless power, 
'Tis night's to testify ; the magnitude 
Of the creation she more plainly shews. 



20 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

When our undazzled orbs of vision pierce 

Far in the vast immense, till thought itself 

Grows wilder'd with the gaze : while order shines 

Through all the inconceivable expanse 

Of matter to declare contrivance fair, 

Join'd with the power that spake it into birth. 

But not the night alone of God declares: — 

His skill (whose mandate is not less required 

To close a little infant's sparkling eye, 

Than bid a jewel in her diadem 

Down from its fix'd position headlong fall, 

And lose itself amidst immensity) — 

With equal lustre shines, when beams the sun, 

As now, in splendour forth. The wide extent 

Of a fair landscape shews the artist's skill. 

But more, far more, the beauties it contains ; 

The light and shade thrown elegantly on, 

And intermix'd, with art so exquisite, 

That scarce the eye can see where light begins 

Or darkness ends -> and adaptation full 

In all its parts, to suit the grand design 

And beautify it too. And the bright beams, 

That with their radiance hide the starry orbs, 

(As God himself, in light ineffable 

Is hidden from the gaze of finite things,) 

Do but eclipse their evidence of power, 

With nearer, brighter, lovelier displays 

Of wisdom, and of goodness. 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY- 21 

Speeding through 
The azure vault, with hot enkindling strength, 
Or with far milder influence, when the shades 
Of darkness first recede, and rosy morn 
With dew-bespangled tresses gaily peeps. 
Exulting, through the eastern gates of heaven, 
Re-animating all things ; while the lark 
Soars up aloft, on fearless wing, to tell 
The general joy, — those very sunbeams shew. 
Distinctly as the night, with all her train 
Of constellations vast and wonderful, 
The radiant impress of the Deity ! 
For, whether with their early cheering smiles 
They call forth nature's energies again 
From short enduring torpor, — emblem faint 
Of light's great natal hour, when Godhead spake 
And the deep's startled billows backward roll'd 
Affrighted on themselves, as burst at once 
On drear Confusion's horrible abyss 
The new invader — or, with steady warmth 
xAnd unperceived, exhale the limpid floods 
To shower profusion on the thirsty plains ; 
Or o'er the earth spread, like the brooding wings 
Of matron bird, to waken up to life 
The vegetable germs that from its womb, 
By wondrous process bursting into birth, 
Spread loveliness and healthful verdure round ; 
Or paint the spanglets of the plain ; and tinge 



THE DEITY. [PART I. 

The cultured garden's richer stores of flowers 

With hues so soft 'tis thought the nicest point 

Of pencill'd art to imitate them best j 

Or rarify the dense air to give birth 

To currents strong, that mingle with their motion, 

And purify, for man, the vital tides 5 

Still wisdom, power, and goodness shine through all. 

Nor needs there knowledge of the ancient tongues, 

Or ingenuity so quick could read 

The' inscriptions on the pyramids of Nile, 

To see those words distinctly character'd 

In the unerring lines of every leaf 

That slowly bursts its embryo hood to see 

The orb whose latent strength it felt before, 

And opes its printed bosom on the day. 

Nor less the elements these act upon 
Their Maker's skill display. Think what you please 
Of their peculiar nature. With the schools 
Of former ages, deem them, if you will, 
The' ingredients, permanent in quality, 
Of which material things are all compos'd ; 
Or, in the light of modern science, view, 
As merely combinations in themselves 
Of smaller atoms, which as well had form'd 
One mass of either element alone, 
Or, (mingled with chaotic dissonance,) 
An universe of everlasting waste. 
In either case their evidence is firm 5 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 23 

The wisdom that created or combined 

Is still the same, while peerless beauty, joined 

With indescribable utility, 

Is manifest in therm 

Survey the air. 
Thou stumbling Atheist, nature's great canal. 
Through which her choicest blessings she conveys 
To her unthankful children ; solar rays 
And showers refreshing. Note its qualities- 
Light, fluid, clear, elastic ; ponder well 
Its vital influence, its sustaining power, 
And mark the way in which 'tis purified. 
E'en by the bounties it to earth brings down, 
Return' d upon itself in fume and fragrance. 

View the devourer fire, its properties 
Observe ; its powers to purify and cleanse, 
To rarify the atmosphere, release 
Fluids condens'd, warm and invigorate 
All animated creatures, and diffuse 
A lively radiance with its cheering heat, 

Plunge in the secret deep ; its restless floods 
Examine well. Behold the wat'ry world 
Composed of particles of size and weight 
To run between the larger grains of earth 
With vegetative aid, and saturate 
The sun-bak'd clods 5 yet capable withal 
Of rarefaction to extent so great 



24 THE DEITY. [PART ] 

As through the undulating tides of air 
To rise in passing lightness. 

Turn thine eyes 
On earth, that hides beneath its grassy robe 
Such treasured stores of lasting good for thee. 
Search through its strata — thou hast found their use 
x n all the dear conveniences of life 5 
And from its rifled bowels gained relief, 
When writhing 'neath the keen assaults of pain. 

And seest thou nothing of contrivance here ? 
Were things like these produced without design ? 
Whence then their properties, short-sighted one, 
Those properties which are the very life 
Of being — one of which, if short, or one 
Added, all nature were confusion wild ? 

Mark their dispersion, too, as in this world 
Displayed : see vallies sink, and hills arise, 
Pregnant with beauty and with usefulness : 
See bracing rocks, like nature's ribs, spread forth. 
To hold together its extended frame. 
And bounteous rivers run through every land, 
To fill it with luxuriance. Mantled o'er 
With hanging clouds, see chains of mountains rise, 
As boundaries of nations: else, perchance, 
Embroil'd in bloody wars and deadly feuds, 
Far more than earth, much vex d by rapine's sons, ' 
Has known them ; while the ocean's vast domains 



BOOK I.] THE DEITT. 2? 

At once connect and disunite them all . 
Itself a world of wonders. 

What ordained, 
Without intelligence, such wonders fair ; 
Why did not chemical affinities 
(Your choicest agents in creation-work,) 
Of every stratum form one massive lump, 
And shew its order in disorder? Why 
Was not the land one level, sun-burnt plain, 
Unfitted for the purposes of life, 
Without a stream to quench its parching thirst ; 
Why were not all the wat'ry particles 
Impell'd by their affinity to form 
One great profound of liquid uselessness, 
If guided not by Wisdom's wond'rous hand } 
Will not such evidence as this strike home r 
What lacks there, then, proud mortal, which possess'd, 
Thou might's t suppose them the creations fair 
Of Infinite Intelligence : Could'st thou, 
(With wisdom so mature, thou laugh'st to scorn 
The superstition of the raving fools 
Who worship the chimeras of their brain)— 
If power almighty in thy right hand's palm 
Lay center'd, form another universe 
More beautiful, more perfect ? Till thou canst, 
Go hide thy head in shame : or own thyself 
Beneath the brutes in knowledge ; yea, beneath 
The nondescript called nature, chance, or fate, 

c 



v 



26 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Which, as thou dream'st, though unintelligent, 

Produced it. Teeming with more wonders still, 

Next give we through the vegetable world 

A hasty glance : — and sure a hasty glance 

Is quite sufficient. Let the botanist 

Describe the virtues of the various plants. 

Both medical and nutritive. Let him. 

In essays long, their different uses tell ; 

To us are all alike ; for all will shew, 

In their first cause, contrivance and design 5 

From the stout oak, Britannia's strength and boast, 

The mountain ash, the fond enclasping vine, 

The passion -plant, our rural gardens' pride, 

And apple, best of all the orchard's trees, 

Down to the humble plant, that on the ground 

Reclines in weakness, creeping as it grows 3 

Or the pale snow-drop, earliest flower of Spring, 

Emblem of christian purityvmost seen 

When scarce the winter of the soul, begirt 

With clouds and storms of providence, is past. 

Yes, all shew traits of wisdom in the cause 

That made the germs from which at first they spring; 

That bade the root throw forth its fibres small, 

And, as self-conscious of its impotence, 

So firmly close in earth's secure embrace : 

That made its thousand mouths, and open'd wide, 

To suck supplies of strength -, and, thus absorbed, 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 2 

Provided them at once with power and means 
To send the substance, so imparted, forth 
Through veins invisible, to trunk, and branch, 
And flower, and leaf, and rich excrescence, too, 
Thou know'st their use, too, sceptic ; and hast felt, 
When low by hunger or by sickness brought, 
Thy strength renewed by vegetation's aid : 
Although thou canst with thankless heart receive ; 
With thankless hand the num'rous blessings cull 5 
And with unthankful lips consume thern all. 

But, plain though demonstration rests with these, 
Still animated nature plainer shews 
The' existence of a God 5 for what but God 
Could call to life those creatures numberless. 
So various in their shapes, yet all supplied 
With organs suited to their every need, 
That dwell on earth, in ocean, or in air ? 
Go to the elephant, see wisdom there, 
In adaptations wonderful as vast ; 
Let behemoth and huge leviathan 
Teach thee contrivance 3 or the favourite beast 
Of Araby's wild sons, so formed to bear 
The parching deserts' long laborious toils. 
But, wherefore, save for their enormous mould, 
As likely first to strike the gazer's eye, 
These should I single out from all the rest, 
When all the same Designer's hand display ? 
The bee that hums his solitary tune, 

c 2 



28 THE DEITY. [PART I, 

And loads his thighs with sweets of vernal flowers : 

The fly, that haunts the lov'd abodes of men -, 

The ant, that feeds her little commonwealth j 

The gnat that flutters in the sunny ray 3 

Nay, all that walk abroad, that skim the wave ; 

That fly through air, or crawl upon the earth ; 

(Perfection shining in a thousand shapes,) 

Will shew the same creative wisdom forth, 

With organs all adapted to their use, 

Themselves adapted to their several spheres, 

A moral lesson bearing each to man, 

And, all united, forming such a whole, 

So perfect, so harmonious, and so fair, 

That, as we muse upon the wond rous theme, 

Thought seem entranced . Then should it, shifting, turn. 

(And, turning, any true conception gain.) 

From those scarce numerable numbers, seen 

Distinctly by the eye's unaided power, 

To those, far more in numerous, found alone 

With microscopic aid, which plainly shews 

On every leaf of herb, tree, fruit, or flower, 

A world in miniature, where live, secure 

The hour allotted them, vast multitudes 

Of perfect beings ; and in every drop 

Of dew that sparkles on the breast of morn, 

Myriads of things that seem as they possess'd 

An ocean of their own to revel in : 

Whilst o'er the heaving breast a flood of awe 



BOOK I.] THE DEITY. 29 

Rolls like the swelling of an ocean wave. 
Infinitude comes rushing on the soul. 
Which, wide expanding, feels its vaster powers, 
Leaps up, exulting, to the source of life, 
And loses all itself in Deity, 



END OF THE FIRST BOCK. 



THE DEITY 



BOOK II. 



ARGUMENT. 



The Being of a God asserted by Creation, continued. — Address to 
Evening. — The Evidence of the former Book reviewed. — 
The Being of a God asserted by the Creation of Man, by his 
Animal, Intellectual, and Moral Faculties ; and the internal 
Testimony of the human Soul. — Proofs of Wisdom and Good- 
ness in the Ordination of Procreation, Love, and the ties of 
Consanguinity. — Atheistical Folly in attempting to account 
for the Origin of the Human Species without an Act of 
Creation. 



BOOK II. 



Oh Evening ! sweet reflective hour, I love 
Thy dusky shade. To contemplation thou 
Art dear. The stormy passions of the soul. 
Touched with a calm congenial to thine own, 
As by the music of the rolling spheres, 
Are lulled to slumber ; and the minds they wrecked 
By the contention of their winds and waves, 
(Feelings intense) which oft to pieces dash 
Most goodly vessels on the rocks of thought, 
Find some repose, although they may but rest 
Broken and shatter'd on the murderous main. 
For there's a charm in twilight ~, it hath power 
To wreathe contentment round the heart, as though 
We thought the ills of life were vanishing 
With the receding day. And the soft shade 

c 5 



34 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And pearly dew-drops, thickening round her path, 
Are the mild look and tears of sympathy, 
To the lorn child of sorrow. 

Eve ! sweet eve ! 
To me thy hour was ever dear, nor less 
Grows with increasing years, for ail thy charms 
Of former days unfaded yet remain 5 
And, these to heighten, thou dost oftimes bring 
A thousand recollections on the mind, 
Of joys and woes for ever past. For thine 
Is time's reviewing season ; all seems peace, 
And we advantage of the stillness take 
To overhaul the log-book of our lives, 
With oft too painful strictness. Childhood, youth, 
Friends, parents, brothers, sisters, native home, 
At once come crowding on the soul as each 
Were struggling first to seize the helm of thought, 
And guide the light bark of reflection on. 
And many a form, once dearly, deeply loved 
Glides like an airy phantom noiseless by ; 
And many a tree, beneath whose spreading boughs 
We, joyous, danc'd in childhood's mirthsome hours, 
Deepens the twilight with its fancied shade ; 
And many an eye once sparkling bright, from which 
Ours, while it lasted, borrowed all its beams, 
Sheds from the vaults of death a feeble ray, 
Pale as thy planet's, ere the sun is set. 

These charms are thine, oh Evening! and combin'd* 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 35 

These wake rich trains of thought, and ease the soul 
That's sucking all the poison from life's flower 
As though enamour'd of the cup of woe ; 
By quaffing it so oft 5 for thou dost rock 
With Zephyrs, gentle as an angel's breath, 
The cradle of the feelings, while thou giv'st 
Young Meditation suck from thy pure breasts 
Of fragrance. 

Come, then, dear, delightful Eve, 
Thou softer and yet lovelier tint of light, 
(Like Godhead veiled in the Messiahship, 
Not too resplendent for the gazer's eye,) 
Descend ! Come, in thy native loveliness, 
And with thy placid calmness fill my soul, 
As meditating now on man, I seek 
To prove by his the being of a God. 

And 'tis descending ! in the murky West 
The beauties of the landscape disappear : 
Slowly retiring, like all visions fraught 
With this world's hopes and fears, from dying men. 
And twilight, pioneer of Night, leads on 
His legions over half the firmament. 
The angler leaves the sparkling brooklet's side, — 
The labourer hies him to his peaceful cot,— 
The lambkin sinks upon his grassy couch, — 
The small birds slumber in their downy nest, — 
The primrose shuts its leaves to kiss the dews, — ■ 
The vallies bid the setting sun farewell, — 



36 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And tall trees catch his last departing glance, 
As down he sinks, and draws his golden clouds 
Behind him, like a comet's vapoury train. 

" Intelligence/' an Atheist well observes, 
" Consisteth in a capability 
" To act conformably to some known end." 
And if the wonders we have just reviewed 
Can shew us no contrivance and design, 
Nay ; do not shew them forth, reflected plain 
As in the mirror of a waveless stream 
The fair surrounding landscape we behold, — 
Where must we seek them ? will the works of art 
More plainly shew them ? no ! the best of these, 
If placed beside a single blade of grass, 
Will shew its innate utter nothingness. 
For, though 'tis not the work of Poesy 
Deeply to dive in Nature's great profound 
For truths which on the very surface float, 
But rather cull the flowers of water-plants. 
That lift their lovely heads above the wave, 
Than seek to' uproot them from the soil below — 
A superficial glance through nature still 
Sufficiently to us declares its God. 

Still is this earliest portion of our task 
Unfinish'd. One great subject yet remains, 
On which, oh Muse ! thou may'st expatiate 
More fully, as exemplar of the rest — 
Tis man ; great theme ! itself enough to prove 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 37 

To all, who do not close their eyes on light 
To shun conviction, — as the ostrich hides 
Her head in sand, and thinks herself secure 
From the approaching hunter — that there is 
An infinite Intelligence, supreme. 

Consummate wisdom and consummate skill 
Are manifest in every part of thee, 
Fond child of dust. Thy fair majestic form, — 
Thy useful limbs, thy well adapted joints, — 
The firm supporting bones shot through thy frame. 
And thy tough sinews of commanding strength, — 
The faculties of sense more wond'rous still, 
Whose mysteries are not developed yet, — 
The veins and arteries spread over thee — 
The labouring heart, the cistern wheel, that sends 
The purple flood with constant motion through — 
The brain and nervous system hung upon it, — 
Xay, every portion of thy outward frame — 
Bespeaks contrivance wonderful. While life, 
That energetic principle, distinct 
From passive matter, which a motion gives 
To what were else inactive as the clay 
From which the hand of God first fashion'd thee, 
Declares aloud an immaterial cause. 

But there's another property in thee 
More plainly shews the existence of a God. 
A principle of vast unmeasured powers, 
That ranges wide through all things at its will, 



3S THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Soars up to heaven, sinks into deepest hell, 

Wraps its long arms around the universe, 

Dives in the ocean of infinitude, 

Calls up past, present, future, brings the dead 

To life, holds parley with the rustling winds, 

And, conversant with every age of time, 

Beholds creation leaping into birth : 

Or, in anticipation, views an hour 

Of distant terror such as ne'er may come ; 

When ruin's black expansive wings shall spread 

O'er all created objects, the pale stars, 

Their eyes grown heavy, slumber on their posts — 

Like drunken centinels — or headlong fall 

Over heaven's battlements, — and the green earth, 

Trembling to hear the angel's proclamation 

That " Time shall be no more," with all her rocks 

And all her woods upon the echo dwell, 

And long and oft repeat the fearful sound, 

As conscious 'tis the last her lips must utter. 

Yes, by the intellectual faculties 
The' existence of a Deity is shewn 
Demonstratively plain -, for if 'twere true 
Material objects might from nature spring. 
By chance or strict necessity, 'tis plain 
That, if the mind be immaterial, 
Not nature, with their wondrous aid to boot, 
Aught mental could produce. All, all effects 
Must have their causes, and those causes be 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 39 

Efficient ones -, and what besides a God 

Could call to being those capacious powers, 

Those great and tow'ring faculties of mind, 

Which man has whiles display'd ? What but a God 

Could give a Newton skill to read the heavens, 

And shew (a secret, near six thousand years 

To man unknown,) the universal law ! 

What but a God that wisdom could impart 

Whose strength enabled an immortal Locke 

To dive into himself, and fetch up truth ? 

Or other true philosophers to raise 

Those vast stupendous monuments of thought 

And reasoning, which Britain's language knows ? 

What first taught man to think, discuss, compare. 
Reflect, remember, meditate, resolve ; 
And what are passions, agitations, thrills 
Of sudden rapture, sensibility, 
And all the subjects of the mental state ? 
I grant whatever phrenology can claim ; 
I grant the brain the casement that the mind 
Peeps through, which, in accordance with its hues 
Gives to that mind its various colourings ; 
But what, — if these are mere impressions made 
Upon material organs, every one 
Composed of particles innumerous, 
W r hich in the mass, examine as you will, 
Shew no more symptoms of intelligence, 
Or aught that's vital than a lump of clay, — 



40 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

What then preserves the unity of mind, 

That unity we're always conscious of? 

Why start not forth ten thousand thoughts at once, 

Mingled, discordant, various, uncontroul'd, 

And, clashing, make a chaos of the soul ? 

Where too, since these our poor material frames 
x\re casting off their dust continually, — 
And building up with fresh materials, 
W T here is the gift of recollection held, 
When every atom earlier scenes impressed 
Has left the bodv, and is known no more ? 
Oh ! yes, what is it wakes such wondrous throbs 
Of feeling, when we unexpected meet 
Forms we have known of yore, though we have been 
For long time parted ! there are other shapes 
More lovely we can pass regardless by ; 
And why not these ? What is it rends the heart 
Of the vile culprit with such fell remorse 
It seems an earthly hell, when to his thoughts 
Associations of ideas call 
His ancient crimes, though all the particles. 
That either witness'd or eonceiv'd those crimes, 
Resolv'd into the elements, have found 
Some substance, and some shape, entirely new ? 
Why dwell the lover's thoughts with fond delight 
Upon the maid now crumbled into dust, 
Once dear to him, whose loveliness impress'd 
Other material organs ? Wherefore seems 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 41 

To the long absent wanderer's doating eye, 

A little brooklet near his father's home, 

Upon whose banks he sported in the hours 

Of infancy and childhood, lovelier 

Than Mississippi, Ganges, Amazon, 

Missouri, Nile or Tiber ? Wherefore wakes 

A lofty tree, beneath whose spreading boughs 

We've sat conversing at the fall of eve, 

On future times, with friends who are not now, 

If in life's later years we gaze upon it, 

Such big throbs of entrancing ecstasy ? 

'Tis memory's enchanting hand, that twines 

These round the heart, that makes them ever dear y 

'Tis memory that speaks the mind unchanged 

By the dilapidations of old Time 

Upon its clay-built tenement 5 that speaks 

Its immateriality, despite 

The sceptic's ravings, and the sceptic's sneers. 

Oh memory ! thou sculptor of the soul ! 
That format her statues in a moment's space, 
Mirror of by-gone days, certificate 
Of all our marriages with earlier scenes, 
Thy evidence is true. The conscious mind, 
'Ware of its nature, laughs at all the shocks 
Of its decaying frame, at all the storms 
Which, thickly gathering, bellow through the air, 
Tear up its tabernacles' stakes, and spread 
Its canvas on the wind. And oft, how oft ! 



42 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

When outward causes have with clouds enwrapt, 
For seasons long, and hid its lovely ray, 
To shew its native strength is unimpaired, 
Just ere the hour when its encircling shell 
Must meet with dissolution, has it burst 
In all its splendour forth ? as oft the sun, 
Who all day long has battled with thick clouds, 
And striv'n in vain to cheer the drooping earth, 
Breaks forth, effulgent, at its setting hour, 
And gives the promise of a fairer dawn. 

Nor less the moral powers of man affirm 
The being of a God ; for none but God 
Could give that consciousness of good and ill, 
Of virtue's dignity, and vice's shame, 
Inherent in the soul. A moral law 
Is on the heart engraved $ and justice, truth, 
Love, mercy, patience, equity, demand 
His strict obedience, while stern Conscience sits 
(Where Revelation has not shed its beams) 
As judge in court, sole arbiter of all. 

Does it not shew true wisdom and design, 
That civilized and barbarous, bond and free, 
All have a monitor within themselves, 
To warn them of the dread effects of sin, 
W T hich strikes its daggers to the guilty heart, 
And gives to virtue its reward of peace ? 
It does, and ere Messiah's days, from lip 
To lip, the sound sprang on through rolling years, 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 43 

" The voice of conscience is the voice of God." 

What brands the vile with cowardice ? what makes 
The patriot bold, the tyrant skulk behind 
His forest of upstarting spears ? what makes 
The man " thrice arm'd who hath his quarrel just ? 
And him but naked, though lock'd up in steel, 
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted?" 
What makes the murderer walk the streets in fear, 
Start at his shadow, and, with wild affright, 
Fly from the rustling breeze ? What makes the heart 
Of virtue firm unto the last, though death 
Stares rudely in his face, and shakes his dart ? 
What makes the dreams of guilt so terrible, 
And e'en with daily phantoms fills the brain ? 
'Tis God, that to the moral powers of man 
Speaks through the voice of conscience. It is God 
Whose name of righteous retribution speaks, 
Who chiefly by that feeble instrument 
Conducts the moral government of worlds. 
He has implanted in the human soul 
Evidence of His being, evidence 
Which nought can controvert - ? though but, perhaps, 
A remnant small of knowledge once enjoyed. 
He has implanted there a monitor, 
W T hose voice, although the roar of mirth may drown, 
And atheistic gags may stifle it, 
Still has its seasons when it will be heard, 
And says (in accents terrible to some), 
" There is a God*, wise, holy, just, and true 3 



44 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And thou must stand before his judgment-seat !" 

Yes, in all ages which have yet been known, 

And in all countries that have yet been found, 

Man own'd, and owns, from whence he sprang. The 

Unprejudiced, unbiass'd, testifies [soul 

The being of a God -, and ever will, 

Though, through the fall's effects, the darken'd ray 

Of reason cannot shew Him as He is. 

Go from the country of the Esquimaux, 

To where Cape Horn, and Afric's farthest point, 

Stretch their long beaks into the foaming sea, 

Ends of the earth : go, seek through every clime, 

Hot, frigid, temperate, — wherever dwells 

Of human race, a Godhead there is own'd, 

A Godhead worshipp'd - y and although, perchance, 

The sun may be the object of their praise, 

They worship it, or as intelligent, 

Or as the symbol of a mightier one, 

Unsearchable, invisible, unknown, 

Whom, through the medium of what eye can see. 

Not knowing, they endeavour to appease 

With sacrifice, when danger threatens nigh -, 

And thankfully to praise for every good. 

But, as an individual, leaving man, 
What wonders do we next behold display'd 
In the continuation of his race 
By other means than that which first produced. 
For what blind chance, or what still blinder fate. 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 45 

What power that darkly wrought without design, 

Had sexes form'd, and these together bound 

With such a tender, yet so strong a tie, 

To procreate their kind ; implanting there 

A fond desire and friendship, of themselves 

Sweeter than life, the perfume of its gale, 

Oh love ! thou signet of the' Eternal One, 

Stamp'd on His choicest works, and most on those 

Who nearest to his glorious image rise 

In moral excellence ! oh love ! thou pow'r 

That fasten 5 st every link in the great chain 

Of being ! cement of the universe, 

That hold'st together its component parts. 

And keep'st the mighty fabric from decay ! 

Oh love ! thou source of every tender tie 

That binds us to existence : honied drop 

In this world's cup of gall : progenitor 

Of social order and domestic peace ! 

Sun of the hemisphere of joy ! pole star, 

By which we guide our vessel o'er life's sea ; 

Fire of the wintry hearth ! soft violet. 

That shed'st thy fragrance on the wilderness ! 

Oh love ! delightful, fond, enchanting love ! 

Whose dreams of rapture never fail to please : 

Who, without thee, that thoughtfully can gaze 

Around, would taste of matrimony's cares ? 

Who, blest with thee, but thinks its bitters sweet \ 

Who, without thee, could know a parent's name, 



46 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And think the offspring other than a curse ? 

Who, blest with thee, would wish to lose one "gem" 

That brightly sparkles in thy " coronet !" 

The roar of anarchy thou still'st : thou stayest 

The march of crime : breakest rebellion's sword : 

Ambition, in his hot career, dost stop, 

As ruthless on he goes : snappest the wheel 

Of persecution : liberty dost give 

To the poor captive 5 and, with outstretched hand, 

Dost own a brother in each human form : 

But here the choicest of thy stores thou keep'st, 

Display est here the fulness of thy power, 

Here yieldest fruit, while flowering every-where. 

And is not wisdom fully shewn in thee ? 

And is not goodness, too, in thee display'd ? 

Oh yes ! the fairest traits of God are here. 

Yes, God it was ordainM that youthful hearts, 

True as the faithful magnet to its pole, 

Should to each other turn 5 and youthful eyes 

Should be as crystal fountains, whence are quaff'd 

Rich draughts of bliss ; and, though degenerate man 

Oft buries it in sensuality, 

True love is pure, true love is holy still 5 

And, like the diamond, cleans'd from all its crust, 

Which could not strike within, sheds lustre round, 

God, God it was ordain'd the father's heart 

Should, in return for all his lengthen'd train 

Of toils and cares, with sweetest rapture glow 



BOOK II.] THE DEIT^ 4 

To see another image of the form 

So loved, — her portrait drawn in miniature. 

And that so blended with his own, that scarce 

A feature can be traced of one, without 

Commingling with the other : that his eye 

Should gaze delighted on its playful pranks - 7 

His ear, enraptur'd, listen to its chat, 

When half-form J d words are utter'd : that with fond 

And noble pride, when strengthen'd reason sends 

Enquiry forth, he should attend to all 

His curious questions, sometimes quaintly put. 

And, ever patient, joyfully attempt 

To satisfy the cravings of young thought 3 

And lead the infantile philosopher 

On from effect to secondary cause, 

And, upward still, to their primeval spring. 

And God it was ordain'd the mother's mind 

Should find a recompense for all her pains, 

Though they indeed are numerous and acute, 

And that e'en in the bliss of being one. 

That the dear burden she has borne so long 

Should touch the very vital strings of love ? 

Such strings as never had been touched before^ 

And wake its softest notes of melody:— 

That, to sustain its wasting strength, while yet 

Its organs are but as in flower, distilled 

For its support alone, ambrosial floods 

Should from her heaving breast delicious flow 



48 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

To the recipient, and the while impart 

(As doth an act of true benevolence 

Unto the yearning heart of charity,) 

Relief unto the giver : — that for all 

Her nursling cares, her vigils long and lone, 

Her kind attention to its every look, 

And all its half-intelligible cries, 

She should conceive herself enough repaid 

By those quick bursts of joy, those glances bright, 

Those gentle gleams of the half-risen sun 

Upon the small horison of its brow, 

Those smiles that seem reflections of her own, 

So fond, so tender, which she sometimes meets, 

When, waking from its rosy, peaceful sleep, 

It upward fondly turns its feeble eyes, 

Like planets tow'rd their suns, to catch the light 

Which flows from hers. That oft, as to her heart 

She hugs it close, it should awake such thrills, 

So overpowering, that her fond eyes close, 

As dazzled with much splendour ; and she feels 

As all her soul were melted into love. — 

That, as its fast increasing strength fatigues 

Her body more, her mind should, weariless, 

Find new attractions ; mark the shooting eye, 

That wanders after every thing it views , 

Teach the young lips to lisp her name 5 and bless 

The sound she taught, as though it were a word 

Fresh found in her vocabulary, one 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 49 

She ne'er had heard before. That, with a love 

Which could alone sufficient patience give, 

She should first teach the infant feet to move, 

And joy to watch her pupil's quick advance ; 

And joy still more to see its confidence 

In her, its outstretch'd hands and eyes of faith 

Directed to her as its object still : — 

And that, when these maternal cares are past, 

And its fond prattle, on the gale of time, 

Dies, softly dies away, their memory 

Should last through life, her offspring still endear, 

And keep a mother's feelings ever warm 3 

While kind attention, and returns of love, 

To parents shewn through their remaining days, 

Enliven all the solitudes of age. 

These are the spells which bind us to the earth ; 
The scented roses of our thorny brake ; 
The glowing smiles that burst through all our tears, 
Like gleams of sunshine through an April sky ; 
And but for these, Oh ! who would undertake 
The parents' charge, to train the infant man 5 
Watch over him through all his devious way, 
And feed him for the great devourer's maw ? 

He who through all relationships can trace 
The influence of ancestral lineage, 
And through its ever varying windings watch 
The silken thread of consanguinity 
That joins together all the commonwealth, 

D 



50 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And makes self-love and social but the same, 

The child of tenderness, around whose heart 

The aspen wreaths of sensibility 

With all its fibres twine, — can best discern 

The wisdom and the goodness here display'd : 

But all may see, whose eyes are not made dim 

By strong delusion, that necessity 

Or chance could never frame such fair designs 

That here, as through all others of its works, 

The cause existent of necessity 

Sure tokens of inherent wisdom gives, 

Which wisdom proves, it is, it must be, God. 

But leave we now, oh Muse ! a little space, 
These fairer fields of evidence, to glance 
At the wild folly of the sceptic's dreams, 
When seeking to account for his own being 
Without an act creative. 'Tis indeed 
An unpoetic and unwelcome task -, 
But satire may, in some sort, here supply 
The place of flowers and sunshine as we rove. 

If from mere soulless nature we sprang forth, 
Tis manifest that she produced a creature 
Possessed of what herself could never boast ; 
Possess'd of contemplative powers, and skill 
To make comparison 'twixt things and things, 
And draw conclusions j or investigate 
The laws by which she's governed and upheld 5 
While she herself, dull, senseless, reasonless, 



BOOK II.]] THE DEITY. 51 

Like a clock's pendulum, keeps moving on 3 
True to her time, yet knowing not her truth 5 
And all unconscious of the laws she owns. 
But how, or why, she made such wondrous things, 
Nor she nor they could ever yet make known 3 
For all who e'er have dared the vain surmise, 
Have proved their folly in the mad essay. 

True, there have been some men, and some pos- 
Of no inferior share of intellect, [sess'd 

Who, in the common walks of life, perhaps, 
Displayed no symptoms of insanity, 
And on familiar topics might appear 
Perfectly sound and reasonable men, 
Have made the' attempt 3 but in the wond'rous flight 
Have let their fertile brains bring forth such thoughts 
As might have shamed an idiot, well repaid 
With ridicule and laughter for their pains. 

Elihu Palmer modestly supposed 
That it might haply take the sun long time, 
(And so it might, as no one will deny,) 
To bring to life a creature such as man. 
By which he seems to' insinuate, that since 
Our earliest parents chipp'd the beldame earth, 
As a young chicken would have chipp'd its shell, 
It never has had leisure to create 
Another of the species. 

Mirabaud 
Gives three solutions to the' enigma 3 first 

d2 



52 THE DEITY. [p. 

Taking for granted, what has ne'er been prov'd, 

That insects are spontaneously produced 

By fermentation and putridity 5 

He follows up the' analogy, and thinks 

That nature could, in ways quite similar, 

Produce each other class of beings too. 

Again, by chemical affinities, 
He deems it possible that matter might, 
In the varieties of restless change, 
By chance, or fate, bring forth a human form, 
Which, duly organized, would find itself 
Possess'd of life and intellectual powers 5 
Though chemical affinities must be 
Affinities no more, to do a work 
So contrary to their essential law, 
(Which, did they rule, attracting like to like, 
Had form'd one lump of every kind of matter,) 
And why the newly dead, ere yet decay 
Has decomposed a frame so wonderful, 
Should lose their life and intellectual powers, 
He has not even ventured to surmise. 

Next, he supposes matter may abound 
With germs, ungenerate, erratic germs, 
Which, in peculiar situations placed, 
Increase in magnitude by slow degrees, 
Till, at their utmost dignity arrived, 
They move abroad as animated things ; 
Act out their parts upon the stage of life, 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 53 

Then to their native elements return. 

And there are those who fancy (thought profound !) 

That man has been from all eternity ; 

Or is at once derived and underived. 

And others who conceive the starry orbs 

Placed in some wondrous aspect, might have power 

To lay him perfect on the' astonish'd earth. 

These schemes, then, are the fairest they can weave, 
Without admitting an Eternal Mind. 
And though we must allow in every case 
They see this matter in peculiar form, 
Before they give it new unusual force, 
As heathens scarce would think a stone were God, 
Save first the cunning workman fashion'd it : — 
'Tis but intelligence and life produced 
By matter, unintelligent, inert, 

Dark, senseless matter, through some wondrous power, 
As reasonless as its materials, 
Denominated nature, chance, or fate. 
But, saying nought of the absurdity 
Of these their systems, great as it appears, 
If they allow us any origin, 
Their idol nature, though immutable, 
Ruled by her own eternal, changeless laws, 
Has, by their full admission, chang'd her course 5 
Producing us by spontaneity, 
Then leading us to procreate our kind 3 
Which casts at once their premises in dust. 



54 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Had they lain down and dream'd such wond'rous 
In times when Jupiter was wont to cut [things 

The darken d moons up, to make stars withal, 
Or preach' d their doctrines to uncultur'd minds, 
Where thick assemblies meet to fright away, 
With hideous noise, the ugly, spiteful foe, 
Who swallows Luna when, eclipsed, she rides, 
And her fair face is blacken'd in the heaven, 
They might, perchance, have pass'd as current coin. 
But can an educated man, brought up 
In lands where science sheds its blaze, receive 
Such ranting frenzy as philosophy ? 

One might as well believe the sun came down, 
And pass'd, as stated, through Mohammed's sleeves, 
Pronouncing the confession of his faith, 
As think that from the mud and slime of earth, 
Or from a heap of vegetable germs, 
Or animalculae, by some strange turn 
Of chance, collected into one crude mass, 
It could produce, albeit it were possess'd 
Of latent powers, a thousand times its own, 
A creature gifted with intelligence, 
Animal life and motion. One might just 
As soon believe a row of serpent's teeth 
(As Ovid sung) were by Medea's power 
Uprais'd from earth in form of armed men ; 
Or ants produced Achilles' myrmidons -, 
As think we sprang spontaneously to birth 



BOOK II.] THE DEITY. 55 

With fermentations, putrefaction's aid, 

Or chemical affinities, or germs, 

Ungenerate, unproduced, erratic germs. 

And never, while my reasoning faculties 

Distinguish 'twixt deriv'd and underiv'd, 

'Twixt independent and dependent things, 

Will I allow of an eternal chain 

In which each link is separate and distinct ; 

Or of a series, howsoever long, 

In which each individual began, 

Yet, all connected, no beginning knew. 

Nor ever, till the planetary orbs 

To that position once again return, 

And form a pair without parental aid, 

Will I give credit to a dream so vague. 

Oh man ! whose lofty, whose ambitious mind 

Recoileth from the thought of being saved, 

As though 'twould hurl thee from perfection's heights 

Into a gulph of sin and wretchedness ; 

Oh man, who in thy wisdom dost reject 

The Word of God, because (as Paine affirms) 

It doth unman, and take away from thee 

The beauty and perfection which uplifts 

Above the level of the sensual brute : — 

Is it for this thou marshall'st out thy hosts 

Against the friends of Christianity ? 

Is it for this thou hurl'st thy thunders forth, 

To shake the towers and battlements of truth, 



56 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Where still she sits, undaunted and serene, 

And laughs to scorn thy vain attempts and thee ? 

Is it for this thou rearest up thy waves, 

And striv'st to dash the Rock of Ages down, 

Which, in its sturdy majesty, breaks all 

The billows as they come, and hurls the foarn 

Of useless fury back upon themselves ? 

Is it for this thou lett'st thy fancy free, 

In search of causes so chimerical ? 

Is it for this thou strain'st thy reasoning powers, 

Till, overstrain'd, they lose their native strength ? 

To prove thyself a child of nothingness ! 

The spurious offspring of the vapour Chance ! 

A mere production of material change ! 

Canst thou believe in dreams so wild as these, 

Yet think the scriptures are too hard for faith ? 

Go, then ! deny the existence of the sun ! 

Declare light darkness, substance nought but shade, 

And thine own self a vegetable tiling. 



END OF THE SECOND BOOK. 



THE DEITY. 



BOOK III. 



D O 



ARGUMENT. 

The Being of a God asserted by Creation, continued. — Opening: 
Address to the Muse. — Matter, as viewed by Reason, Revela- 
tion, and Atheism. — The Vagaries of Mirabaud. — Chance. — 
Necessity. — Astrology. — The Eternity of Things. — Eternity, 
Duration, Time, Space, &c. — Review of Atheistical Positions, 
— Their Absurdity. — Concluding Address to*\Sceptics, on the 
Immortality of the Soul. 



BOOK HI. 



Thus have we trac'd, oh Muse ! our way through all 

Creation 3 and have found the Deity 

Made manifest wherever we have turn'd : 

Yet numerous subjects in our hasty flight 

We left untouch'd 5 nor boldly sought to drive 

From some positions strong, which they assumed 

And fortified, the daring sceptic bands. 

So, as we late descended swift from worlds 

To atoms, and their combinations view'd : — * 

Now be it ours as quickly to return 

From man to matter ; and from matter on 

Through chance, fate, time, eternity, to God, 

Plume then thy wings ! their tips make strongs and crop 



60 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

The overgrown feathers of luxuriant ease ; 
For now no more a lovely tract is thine. 
And since the sphere of abstract argument 
Is far too dense for full poetic beams, 
Content thyself with here and there a burst 
Of sunshine through the clouds thou openest, 
So but the truth of what we hold is proved ; 
And thou, at last, a conqueror in the strife, 
Shalt bask in pure and unbeclouded light. 

e< Matter/' says Reason, " is a wondrous mass, 
Call'd into being by some foreign cause, 
From absolute and perfect nothingness ; 
And by that foreign cause, who must have been 
Immense, eternal* and immutable, 
Modell'd, according to his sovereign will, 
Into those various systems which exist 
In the illimitable realms of space, 
And seem to us like brilliant sparks of fire, 
Floating along the night's empurpled vault, 
Countless as dew-drops on the breast of morn : — 
These, modell'd thus, to beautify and make 
Displays of his own attributes, that Cause 
Supplied with living things possessing power 
To procreate their kind 3 and them supplied 
With vegetation, for their nourishment, 
And for each other purpose which might keep 
Life's every function in its proper tone : — 
And motion is a general accident 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 



01 



Of matter, an imparted property, 

Giv'n to it by the same Eternal Cause, 

To beautify the outspread universe, 

Make it convenient for its habitants, 

And regulate times, seasons, days, and years. 

Which Cause, in wisdom infinite, ordain'd 

That gravitation and projectile force 

Should rule, as His inferior magistrates, 

Through these His works, and lovely order reign." 

" Matter/' says Revelation, " was a huge 
And shapeless mass, a dark chaotic void, 
Brought into being by the living God ; 
Who said ' Let there be light,' and there was light ; 
Then spread the heaven, and nll'd it with its worlds. 
And fill'd those worlds with their predestin'd things, 
By the mere fiat of His mighty word : — 
And motion an imparted property 
Of matter, given by the same High Power 
To beautify the outspread universe ; 
Make it convenient for its habitants, 
And regulate times, seasons, days, and years. 
Which Power, by name, call'd forth the starry host, 
Taught them their mystic dance, and bade them run 
Their course, rejoicing to perform His will." 

" Matter," says Mirabaud, " is nature's frame 
Eternal, self-existent, uncontrolled, 
Composed of particles of various kinds, 
Each having its peculiar properties, 



6<2 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Which, by affinity, analogy, 

Attractive aptitude, repulsive force, 

Decompositions, combinations firm, 

And joint proportions, of themselves can from 

Suns, planets, comets, and all things that dwell 

Within the region of those various worlds. 

And motion is a generative thing, 

With which all matter somehow is instinct, 

But its propensities so diverse are 

As give old headlong Chance the power to make 

Strange revolutions in the realms of space ; 

Turn planets into comets, comets back 

To planets, crust suns' brilliant bodies o'er, 

Cast off the sordid crusts that cover them, 

To form another little world or two, 

Teach other planets how to form themselves, 

And other suns to kindle up a blaze 

In places unillumin'd heretofore," 

And such a train of metamorphoses 

As scarce the mind can follow through their maze. 
And this is Atheism 5 the scheme profound 

Of those who ever largely have professed 

To banish all chimeras of the brain, 

And follow sense's evidence alone 5 

But, sailing without compass in the dark, 

Mistook a meteor for the polar star 

And steered to lee-ward of the port of truth. 

Oh ! wond'rous stretch of merely human powers ; 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 63 

Supreme, superlative imaginings ! 

Buffon, nay, Frey himself, must shrink abashed 

From the illustrious Mirabaud, and own 

Their's were but humble flights indeed -, for he 

Makes nought of driving now and then a world 

x\gainst its neighbour, (as a ship at sea 

Against her consort sometimes has been driven, 

In a rough tempest), till the jolterheads, 

To pieces dash'd, roll into little worlds ; 

And in their mad course as they reeling go, 

Stunned by the shock, meet with some kindly sun, 

Who, seeing them in unprotected state, 

Like a good foster-father, takes in tow, 

And as the pelican is fabled oft 

To feed her helpless offspring with her blood, 

So e'en with his own substance feeds them up, 

Till they grow planets of a larger size : — 

He so knocks matter to and fro in space 

As scarcely can be likened unto aught 

Save Chance, at foot-ball playing in the heaven, 

And kicking worlds confusedly here and there, 

To disarrange poor Nature's pretty frame 5 

As fast as she can put it into form. 

And is this true philosophy ? are these 
The full conclusions of an honest mind, 
Of an unprejudiced, unbiass'd man, 
Who gazed on nature but to seek for truth ? 
Did he, for lack of evidence, reject 



64 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

The doctrine of a power supreme, who made 
At first, and governs now, and guides the whole -, 
And, on such evidence as he would think 
Quite strong enough to rest his soul upon, 
Found such absurd hypotheses as these ? 
If so, then to the dust with thoughtful care ! 
Up, Folly, up ! dance Error, on the tomb 
Of your inveterate foe ! for Truth is dead ! 
Reason is in the tomb of other years ; 
And stern Philosophy's turn'd lunatic, 
By some unusual motion of the moon - 7 
And the vagaries of this child of Chance 
Are the wild wanderings of her fevered brain 
When in the strongest of her raving fits. 
Ye boasting followers of sense alone, 
What sense has testified such things as these ? 
What eye has seen them, or what ear has heard ? 
La Place has well demonstrated that still 
The planets in their ancient orbits move 
(Their deviations always regular). 
Where's then the change thus talk'd of ? or, e'en grant 
It could be so, what should produce that change ? 
What give a new essential property 
To that, whose properties were fixed before ? 
Whence should the heterogenous matter flow, 
To decompose, and then combine anew, 
Give to a planet an eccentric course, 
And send it whirling in a comet's sphere ? 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 65 

Where can we hear of an encrusted sun ? 
Where see a sun new kindled into blaze ? 
Where find a system with no central star ? 
Where view the reins of government restored 
Into the hands of u chaos and old night?" 
What are they but unfounded theories, 
Push'd into being for a purpose foul, 
To shew us darkness where there is but lights 
Unloveliness, where all is beautiful, 
And mad confusion and chaotic jars, 
Where order, peaceful order, smiles serene ? 

Hail, mighty Chance ! thou thin and vapoury shade I 
Nay, less than vapoury, thou ideal thing ! 
Hail, great magician ! glorious progeny 
Of error and imagination, wed 
Before Delusion's shrine ! Well, well, may man 
Adore thee, wondrous vision ! paradox 
E'en among nondescripts ! Omnipotent, 
Yet powerless ! destitute of intellect, 
Yet acting with appearance of design 5 
Maker at once of all things and of none, 
Thing nowhere present and yet everywhere, 
Existence which is neither infinite 
Nor finite, negative nor positive, 
Til call thee Nature, if thou hear'st it rather, 
For man hast oft so called thee 3 or has given 
The name of pure necessity to thee, 
Thou headlong wonder-worker \ and, with songs 



66 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Sublime and beautiful, has told thy praise. 

Receive the worship of thy votaries 5 

Accept their incense 5 and reward with stores 

Of every thing that emanates from thee, 

Almighty, powerless nothing ! that their hearts 

May, like their heads, be filled with thee and thine. 

For whether thou'rt a jealous God, or not, 

Thy worshippers are jealous of thine honour , 

And will not let the glory of thy works 

Be given unto another 5 great creator, 

Who, rife with being, yet possessing none, 

Hast brought, without design or consciousness, 

tThis vast material universe to birth. 

Yes, with a jealous ear, they list the praise 

Of other gods 5 and when the superstitious 

Would trace the actings of some foreign cause, 

Their dignity is roused ; and with new zeal 

They strive to shew that these effects are thine, 

All thine 3 by whom, and of whom, all things came ! 

For he whom strong delusion holds in chains, 

(Delusion which will give the passion vent, 

And let him range wherever impulse leads,) 

Gazes on all things as with jaundic'd eyes ; 

Like a bribed judge, give sentence on the case 

Before opposing evidence is heard : 

Fancies, whene'er to urge his mad pursuit 

Still farther, some fair phantom form appears, 

He's found the substance he has left behind $ — 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 67 

As sometimes in our visions of the night, 

We think realities are very dreams, 

And very dreams are full realities ; — 

And, though at times conviction makes a rush, 

Upon his soul from some unguarded point, 

Oft hugs his fatal error to the last 3 

As, in his deep convulsive agonies, 

The victim of self-murder firmer grasps, 

In his clench'd hand, the reeking, crimson'd blade. 

With which he made an opening for his soul. 

Eut oh ! ye votaries of this idle dream, 
Are such things possible as ye conceive, 
And is it not as possible, at least, 
That there may be a great Almighty mind ? 
The very supposition tells it is. 
Reflect then 3 oh reflect, if you should find 
Your souls immortal, if h~ 7 chance you find 
There is a God, whom justice makes your foe, 
Where shall ye seek a hiding-place secure — 
If that voice which would shake the firmament, 
Run through the veins of nature like a shock 
Electric, make the adamantine hills 
Tremble like children at a father's wrath, 
And pour forth ail their rills in floods of tears,— 
That voice, which spake all nature into birth, — 
Should loud rebuke you, in a strain which hell 
Must, from her lowest vaults, reverberate 
For ever and for ever, for his laws 
And fame despised ; his love and mercy scorned 3 



68 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Rejected the salvation of his arm 5 

And his existence laughed at as a dream ? 

Chance, Nature, and Necessity, as view'd 
Most commonly among the sceptic race, 
Who think themselves philosophers, are words 
Of the same meaning. But there are a few 
Whose wild chimera is a thing more strict 
Than can be called synonymous with chance ; 
Though both are laws without a legislator, 
And both without design rush blindly on. 
Those modern masters of Chaldaic arts, 
Impose strong fetters on the human will, 
And tie events up with the cords of fate 
So tight that not an incident can slip 
From out the well-packed bundle 3 then with quite 
As much of confidence as Ajax had, 
When once to meet Achilles he strode forth, 
And of importance too, as full as he, 
Declare " Whatever is to be will be, 
And nought can 'scape the influence of the stars." 

There's something in Astrology that feeds 
The' enthusiastic passions of the soul, 
And takes its students unawares. For thought 
Here finds employment -, wonder has its fill ; 
And calculations deep amuse the brain, 
With semblance of much wisdom. So that he, 
Of judgment weak and strong imagination, 
Who once has deeply quaff'd its poison-cup, 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 69 

Oft, like the opium-eater, loves the drug 
That clouds his reason -, until child-like grown, 
Were some strong shock to wake him from the dream 
In whose deep mysteries he such pleasure found, 
He'd close his eyes, and strive to sleep again. 

The light of modern science, which has cast 
The four quadrangles of old Ptolemy 
(Where 'twas most fitting) to the moles and bats, 
And shown how baseless were the Chaldee's schemes, 
Might well have been expected to explode 
A system founded on such drifting sands. 
And there are those who think the art no more, 
Though whiles its ghost at midnight stalks abroad 
To " bay the moon," and gaze upon her train 
Of sparkling gems that stud the dark expanse. 
But wherefore think so \ when the hand that writes 
These lines has urg'd the' obedient pen along 
In forming horoscopes, and casting them 
With such peculiar nicety, as though 
Its marks and figures were to govern fate ? 
Ah wherefore ! when the public press sends forth 
Its annual deluge of absurdities, 
In prophecies, ambiguous oft as those 
Which demons gave in oracles of yore 3 
And thousands drink the learned nonsense in, 
As they were quaffing at the fount of truth r 

I do not charge astrologers with that 
Which some have done, deception : well I know 



70 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

They have a system, one that's fraught with skill. 

I know they sometimes calculate aright 

Effects from what they think the acting cause 5 

For reason's eye, perceiving what may be, 

Charged with the scene, pursues her wayward search, 

Till in the stars the symptoms she beholds. 

(As fancy, when Dan Phcebus rests his head 

Upon the sinking clouds at eventide, 

In the bright train of glory which is spread 

O'er half the arch by his departing beams, 

Pourtrays whatever figures please her best.) 

But though they sometimes darkly hit the truth, 

Yet have we known a shuffled pack of cards, 

A " Norwood Gypsey's" book of mystic lore, 

And things more trifling, speak as true as they. 

While in the system, which they think so fair, 

There are such startling incongruities 

As never can comport with stedfast truth. 

Take some examples. If the planets hold 
An influence over kingdoms, if the fate 
Of men they govern with resistless sway, 
They must o'er all material things exert 
Their influence too 5 e'en from a rolling world 
Down to the smallest animalcula 
That lives unseen by man's unaided eye, 
Who, from the nosegay whence he oft inhales 
A rich perfume, draws numbers by the act 
To death. If, then, astrology be true, 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 71 

A death by stabbing only can be caused 

By evil aspect of the warrior god, 

A thing that does not commonly occur ; 

Yet sheep, swine, oxen, wheresoe'er the sun 

Of smooth civility has shed its beams, 

Have all that aspect in their horoscopes, 

To please the glutton appetite of man ; 

Though in some countries they can range at large, 

Untouch'd by butchers, to the yoke unknown. 

Again, two creatures who receive their birth 
In the same place, and near one point of time, 
Should not so widely differ in their fate, 
As one to have a long protracted life, 
The other meet with sudden, speedy death. 
I grant there are positions may be found, 
In which such things are possible with them ; 
I grant that Saturn, on the ascendant's cusp, 
Might, in some minutes, all the difference make 
'Twixt life and death — that Luna, placed in square, 
Or opposition to the ascending point, 
Might vote for drowning -, and some minutes more 
Produce a narrow 'scape, and change the scene. 
But these are things, in nature's common course, 
Would happen once in some three hundred times 3 
And sure> 'tis strange they always should be there, 
When our domesticated animals 
So frequently increase their num'rous race. 

Once more, two children (if their system's true), 



7^ THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Near to one latitude and moment born, 
In all things should such strong resemblance bear, 
As scarce to be distinguished each from each. 
And were there none, I ask, to being brought, 
When Gaul's late hero first beheld the light, 
Before the thunder of whose mighty arms 
Whole empires trembled, while the blasting flash 
Of war's red lightning desolation spread 
O'er scenes once rich with verdure, till the earth 
Received fresh fatness from her children's gore ? 
Where, then, are these, the mighty ones ? where stand 
Their deeds recorded ? let the world behold. 
It may be answer'd, " If they could be found, 
Some mark'd resemblance they would doubtless bear, 
And rise proportionately in their state ; 
While parentage and circumstance of birth 
Will readily account for all the rest." 
What ! if they could be found ! the counterparts 
Of him who made all Europe's nations quake ? 
What ! rise proportionate ! a humble man, 
First moving in a lowly sphere of life, 
Become earth's conqueror? what ! difference 
In parentage and circumstance of birth, 
The lord and lady of each house the same ? 
What made this difference, then, the horoscope 
Resembling? If the planets, how? if not, 
Then own the influence of another power. 
But, to return, and leave this minor point 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY, * 

For the more general subject of our song j 

E'en if astrology be true, and man 

Be no more able to refrain from ill, 

Than is a cannon ball to turn aside. 

Lest death and bloodshed should attend its course ; 

If there's no God, who gave the stars their power ? 

Who calFd them to existence ? Search through all 

The works of all the dreaming Atheists, 

Who ever yet caused Time to blush with shame. 

That he must chronicle their baseless schemes,— 

The only answer that they all can find 

Is this, that this material universe 

Has been from all eternity, and will 

To all eternity exist the same. 

This is the sceptic's last resort 5 push'd on 
By the sword-edge of reason, here he runs, 
Closes his gates, and thinks himself secure. 
But let us follow him to this retreat $ 
This last strong hold of Atheistic power % 
This fortress, often deem'd impregnable : 
And with the lamp of truth explore its base 
For subterranean passages 3 for sure, 
If the foundation be a hollow rock, 
Against the* assaults of an invading foe, 
The pillar'd superstructure cannot stand. 

Eternity ! what is it ? ask the deep, 
That rolls its waves incessantly, and rolls, 
And still rolls on. Low hiding in its womb 



74 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

The wrecks of nations, with a breast unscar'd 
By aught of human workmanship, — to tell 
The lustrums it has known : — it seems to say 
C{ Consider me. vain worm, and know thyself ; 
Thou'rt but an atom, and thy boasted life 
Is but a passing shade > but thou can'st not 
Number rny years ; for they are infinite/' 
Go ! ask it, then ! but hist ! its murmurs breathe 
Audible sounds ; its billows > as they swell, 
An answer give, and thus it runs, 6i Ask not 
Of me, oh man ! to me it is unknown/' 
And every cavern where it hoarsely howls, 
And stores the treasures it has stol'n from thee, 
(Exulting, like a pirate, o'er his prey,) 
And every wand'ring star that sees itself 
Reflected in the mirror it expands • 
Echoes the murmur in a louder tone, — ■ 
i( Ask not of me, to me it is unknown ! " 
Ocean of life unfailing, whose big waves 
Are passing ages ! — fathomless abyss 
Of being !— yet are these but symbols fair 
Of that which in eternity exists, 
Duration : — every ocean has its shore 
And each abyss its entrance : space alone. 
Illimitable space, that with it reigns, 
Companion of its vast infinitude 
(Proving, like it, the' existence of a God, 
For being no subsistence of itself, 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. ?5 

It needs in some subsistence must inhere), 
Is fitting for the great comparison ; 
For, in the abstract view'd, eternity 
Is not duration, but the medium 
In which duration its existence holds, 
As space is to extension ; and whilst time, 
With all his numerous ages, glides along, 
And in succession brings such great events, 
'Tis one unchanged, 'tis one unchanging now 5 
That like the centre of a system stands 
Fix'd ; while attendant worlds, revolving round, 
To their inhabitants the* appearance give 
Of never ceasing motion. Therefore that 
Which is eternal is unlimited $ 
Has ever been, and ever will be so -, 
Can neither be diminished nor increased ; 
Knows no succession j no beginning knew, 
And wilt thou, sceptic, say this universe, 
This matter, is eternal ? Wilt thou say 
That time had no beginning, and is now 
No older than it has for ever been ? 
Go teach the clown that, since his father's days, 
And since his father's father's father's days, 
The universe's age has not increased 
One jot — He'll greet thee with a stupid stare, 
Count up the years, and answer, " Thou'rt a fool !" 
Go tell the tradesman, at his writing desk, 
To get a pen of steel, and number down 

e 2 



76 THE DEITY. [PART 

What figures please him, till 'twill write no more ; 

Then multiply with care the lengthen'd line 

By one as long 5 and when the product's found, 

Count back as many years in ancient time, 

Assuring him the earth he dwells upon 

Was then no younger than it is just now ; 

That till his calculations can exhaust 

An inexhaustible, he will not find 

A period when 'twas younger ; and should he 

Live for ten million times ten million years, 

'T would be no older at his dying day 

Than at the present moment — -With a shrewd 

And curious air hell look you in the face, 

Then bite his lips, and think you must be mad, 

Go bid the school-boy figure down a line/ 

In length, decillions ; and keep adding lines 

For thirty years, till the vast sum would take 

The remnant of his life (supposing it 

Full three score years and ten,) to cast it up ; 

Then tell him if each unit in that sum 

Stood for the period of a century, 

And all were reckon'd back, the stage they brought 

Would be no earlier in the march of time, 

Nor nearer take him to its origin 

Than does the moment that is passing by : — ■ 

Would he not spurn at your philosophy^ 

And cry, " Away with science, if it teach 

What common sense and common honesty 

Most plainly shew to be a stupid lie ?" 



BOOK III.] THE EEITY. 7? 

Yet this doth he assert who dares assert 
That matter is eternal, or that time, 
Succession, motion, no beginning knew. 
For nought is more or less unlimited; 
Infinitude admits of no degrees. 
Since limits only are divisible -, 
And had this matter no primeval spring. 
If it has been from all eternity, 
However far we travel back through time, 
One year, or fifty thousand were the same, 
We get no nearer to its origin : 
'Tis still for ever, and for ever still. 
And could ten million times ten million years 
Be added to it, that were no increase ; 
For if unlimited, Omnipotence, 
Stretch'd to its utmost, could not make it more. 
But as it never roald, at once, exist 
And not exist, whenever it has been 
(If records of those data could be gain'd,) 
It might be trac'd 5 (for numbers possible, 
However large, admit of an increase,) 
And since no tracing power, though ne'er so great, 
Could through the vast for ever wend its way, 
All finite things must sometime have begun, 
Succession, of necessity, implies 
Beginning 5 which as necessarily 
Implies a previous cause 5 — that previous cause 
Original, self-living, must be God. 



78 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Or if allowed that (contrary to fact 
And demonstration,) matter might exist 
Eternally, without an origin, 
And have no motion in eternity 
Or space, a rude, chaotic, shapeless lump, — 
What generated motion ? did it spring 
From nothing ? Did eternity beget, 
And space give birth to, it ? There needs as much 
A God to render chaos into form, 
And give duration, motion, loveliness 3 
As to create that chaos. 

Palpable 
Absurdities ! and will ye rest on these 5 
Oh ! sons of men, your everlasting all ? 
Will ye within this "baseless fabric " dwell, 
And deem yourselves secure ? Oh God ! whose rays 
Can pierce the thickest darkness ; Thou, whose word 
Call'd to existence the whole realm of things 5 
Thou, who " inhabitest eternity !*' 
And with thy wondrous presence fill's t all space $ 
Stay, stay thy vengeance ! lay thy thunders by ! 
As once, when thou didst send thine only Son 
To call poor wandering rebels back to thee, 
Shine forth ! speak ! bid them fall before thy throne 
In humble penitence ; and lo ! — 'tis done. 

What mud and stubble will he seek to build 
His edifice who founds it upon sand ! 
Cause with effect confounded ; — atoms turned 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 7$ 

To germs, and germs to animated things,— 

The elements, without the aid of germs. 

Taught to produce a vegetable life, — 

Isthmuses form'd, to make connectible 

That vegetable life with animal, — ■ 

Flights of imagination,— theories 

Without a single proof, — conclusions drawn, 

Ere propositions are a fourth part weigh Yi,— 

Anomalies, and rank absurdities, 

Are chief ingredients in the Atheist's schemes,— 

He libels half his favourite Nature's laws, 

By making her produce incongruous things. 

He laughs at others for believing aught 

But what their senses plainly testify ; 

Yet, on such suppositions grounds his faith 

As scarce imagination can conceive. 

Organization he believes to be 

The acting source of intellectual powers i 

Yet intellect refuses to the Power 

That organized the beings where it dwells. 

He seeks to' account for every thing he sees 

By reasons far more unaccountable. 

He fain would falsify historic facts 

By mere assertions that they could not be. 

And even those who deem the universe 

As co-existent with eternity, 

(At least the more refined among their class.) 

In their great sapience, rather than admit 



80 THE DEITY [PART J< 

The record of the Deluge, which might stamp 

A little truth upon the Word of God, 

To' account for the effects that deluge wrought, 

And shew why fossils of such animals 

As have existence but in warmer climes 

Are buried 'neath the icy North, — surmise 

An equinoctial motion of the earthy 

Completed once in some four million years, 

By which the poles, in course of time, become 

The torrid zone, the torrid zone the poles. 

While, if the earth existed, as they say, 

From an unlimited eternity, 

'Twere needful that a thousand deluges, 

Like that recorded, and each unit in | 

That thousand counted o'er ten thousand times., 

Had wash'd her crowded face, to keep her now 

From over-population, densely great, 

Maugre lank famine, pestilence, and war. 

But let them still dream on, if they will close 
Their eyes upon the light, till they believe 
Imagination's wanderings 5 for me 
There would not be a comfort in the thought 
Of undirected chance, or fate, beyond 
A Deity's control. Ah no ! I find 
My happiness in the belief of One, 
Who sees each sparrow fall, by whom my hairs 
Are number'd 5 who, by providence and grace 
Has yet upheld, and will uphold me stilh 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY^ 81 

"What need I fear, tho' thrones and kingdoms fall? 

What need I fear, tho' the stout earth should shake^ 

And nature be convulsed with dreadful throes ? 

I have a footing on a firmer rock, 

The Rock of Ages ! not all nature's shocks 

Can ever move the self-existent God ; 

And whilst his throne stands fast, I can rejoice 

In Him, and still believe myself secure : 

Yea, can rejoice amidst all storms, aware 

My Father guides the helm ; and his designs 

Must be fulfill'd, though all seem contrary, 

And not one jot, and not one tittle fail. 

The schoolboy, in vacation time, may laugh 
At books, his master scorn, his task despise, 
And spend his hours in giddy wantonness. 
But life's vacation shortly will be past : 
Time wings his steady course ; the teacher, Death, 
Waits for his pupils, and his stern reproofs 
Are things not very pleasing, for, in sooth, 
The' anticipation often shakes the soul 
Of him who has neglected books and maps 3 
Deferring, to the latest hour, that task, 
Which all, or soon or late, must learn, — to die. 
Nay, if there be no life beyond the grave, 
And death, instead of couching our weak eyes, 
Should seal their lids in one eternal sleep ; 
At least 'tis pleasant to lie down in joy, 
Which is a thing the christian oft can do j 

e 5 



8*2 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

While he who makes a Deity his scorn, 
And madly rushes on his bossy shield, 
More frequently is doom'd to part with life 
With feelings far more dreadful than are his 
Who, drowning, sinks the third time in the deep ; 
Anticipating nothing but despair, 
Thick darkness, and interminable woe. 

Yes, sceptic, when young health is on the cheek, 
Tinging with blushes like the orient morn 5 
When ardour glistens in the sparkling eye, 
And soft the train of pleasures dances on -, 
Tis easy then to make thy home on earth, 
To scorn all visions of a better world 
As but the phantoms of a half-turn'd brain 5 
" Laugh at the bugbear, death/' and proudly rail 
'Gainst Him that made thee, But there is a scene 
Oft opens the closed curtains of the soul, 
And shews thee as thou art \ the dying bed — 
The last, sad moments, — these are solemn things, 
So deeply solemn, they have sometimes struck 
Most callous hearts with terror. Canst thou, say, 
Canst thou, unmoved, stand on life's utmost verge, 
And, without one misgiving, boldly rush 
In the wide sea of dark uncertainty ? 
Not so, methinks -, as roll the billows on, 
Lashing the shore, thy frighted soul would pause, 
And vainly seek to shun the fatal plunge ! 
Yet grant thou couldst, what joy hast thou in death ? 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 83 

What thought to cheer thee when thy shipwreck'd 

Is toss'd upon affliction's stormy sea? [frame 

Hope dwells not with thee $ thou hast seen her sun 

From its meridian height at once push'd down 

Into the blacken'd west, and memory, 

At best, will but remind thee of those joys 

Now lost for ever. Nought can solace thee, 

Save the full prospect of a dreamless sleep, 

After long seasons of unresting care. 

Noble ambition ! loftiness of mind ! 

That, with an immortality in view, 

Would rather choose to perish like the brute, 

Whose " spirit downward goes/' to live no more. 

Annihilation ! the awakening soul 
Shrinks at the thought ; and in her clayey cell 
Hides like a coward : whilst the flagging pulse. 
Sharing her dread, almost forgets to beat. 
And is this all thy wish, thou mighty one, 
Who numberedst the stars ; plannedst the heavens 
In horoscopes 5 or weigh'dst the airy tides - } 
Who didst with winds hold converse 5 dig in earth, 
To seek her hidden wonders j or explore 
The creeks and havens of the stream of time ? 
Wouldst thou thus end thy being ? choose it, then, — 
(Would thou couldst gain it !) while my soul ascends 
To sound for evermore Jehovah's praise. 

But art thou mortal ? is that principle 
Which, when thy body, in the jaws of death, 



84 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Convulsive writhes, — loses no vital power, 

But, as it heard its dungeon-bolts drawn back, 

Upstarts erect, with life endow'd anew ; 

And stretches its quick eye to catch a glimpse 

Of those celestial fields where glory reigns, 

Or turns with horror from the floods of hell j 

Are those scarce bounded powers, that seek to grasp 

Eternity, infinitude, which nought 

On earth will satisfy, because 'twill end, — 

Are they but mortal ? must they, can they die? 

Sooner the sun shall fade j sooner the moon 

Wail her departed grandeur, and drop tears, 

Tears chilly as would freeze the ocean o'er -, 

Sooner shall gravitation fail, and worlds, 

Mid the dread reign of terror, vast and wide, 

Frighted, rush headlong to each other's arms ; 

Sooner all systems in the universe 

Be dash'd, like vessels when a tempest brays 

On the mad waves of Chaos $ raised aloft, 

By the fierce hurricane of Ruin's breath, 

Till broken and dissolved $ and ancient Night 

Regains the regal sway ; — than that which is 

A principle of life, breathed from the lips 

Of God into man's nostrils, shall become 

Annihilate. The burning realms of woe, 

Whose fiery billows lash the eternal rocks 

Of adamant, while the undying worm 

Gnaws on the vitals of its victims dire, 



BOOK III.] THE DEITY. 85 

Can ne'er destroy it -, and the joyful songs 
That sound unceasing through the courts of heaven, 
In praise to Him that made, and loved, and blest. 
Can ne'er exhaust it — 'twill for ever live. 



END OF THE THIRD BOOK. 



THE DEITY 



BOOK IV. 



ARGUMENT. 

The Being of a God asserted by Providence. — The Doctrine 
asserted. — General Providence exemplified in Vegetation, — 
animated Nature, — Man. — Particular Providence considered 
as relating to Individuals. — Nations. — The Wreck of Empires. 
— The Jewish Tribes, and the Prophecies of Scripture. — 
General Outline of the work of Time. — Christian experience. 
— The Happiness and Stability resulting from a Belief and 
Trust in Providence ; and concluding Hymn. 



BOOK IV, 



Launched forth upon the stormy seas of life, 

Oh ! what were man, without a Pilot-hand 

To guide him ? How could he escape the shoals, ; 

The sunken rocks, the currents swift and strong, 

And all the dangers that around him crowd ? 

Alas ! the gallant vessels soon would be 

A dismal wreck, the sport of the wild waves, 

That, like spoilt children, would their plaything breaks 

And hide it in the white foam of their rage : 

If then with individuals it were thus, 

How were it with a multitude of worlds ? 

Materialists may talk of properties 

Peculiar to peculiar particles 5 



90 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Strict Necessarians of the changeless laws 

Of nature ; science put smoked glasses on, 

To make her dim sight worse than 'twas before ; 

And false philosophy, (profoundly false) 

With wondrous calculations, turn her brain 

On desultory matters, — still, in spite 

Of all their ravings, reason will affirm 

That, when sustained not by the power of God, 

That moment all must perish ; for all life 

Were gone, and like the body of a man, 

Whose lips have breathed vitality away, 

The frame would then begin to decompose, 

And the dread work still urge its onward course, 

Till dissolution crept o'er every part, 

And Chaos laugh'd to see his reign restor d. 

Fortuity's a word, four syllabled, 
A liquid smoothly-sounding word, become 
Quite fashionable now 3 and God, forsooth, 
Is represented by the mass of men 
As seldom interfering with His works -, 
As though tire cares of such a large estate 
As this vast Universe, were quite too much 
For an Almighty, Omnipresent Power ; 
Who, to be rid of such a tiresome task, 
Would only place his signet now and then 
On the enactments of his senators. 
But let the phantom fashion have its toys, 
Such toys as please it best ; the order is^ 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 91 

For all who name the lofty name of Christ, 

Be not conform'd to this world, whose vain modes 

Pass like the swift scenes of a spectacle. 

The man who is not almost destitute 

Of mental sight must, on reflection, own 

That (as an Infidel once taught the muse,) 

" All nature is but art unknown to him, 

All chance direction which he cannot see ;' J 

That there's a guiding and upholding Power, 

Who, " ever busy," works through these His worlds, 

Guiding the varying steps of circumstance ; 

"From seeming evil still educing good, 

And better thence again, and better still 

In infinite progression." 

Who has spent 
In meditation some few years of life, 
Passing events with thoughtfulness observed ; 
These faithfully compared with former ones ; 
And converse held with History's teeming page, 
Yet seen no marks of Providence ? That man 
Is either blind or would direct his God -, 
And since all matters are not order'd quite 
As he could wish them, (thinking, puny thing! 
With finite hand to draw the Infinite 
Lines for his conduct,) with a piece of sponge 
Steep'd in the froth of pride, wipes every trace 
Of Deity's directing hand away. 
Out on't ! 'tis monstrous ! 'tis removing one 



9 C 2 THE BEITY. [PART I. 

Of God's foundations for the Christian's hope ; 
And if the strong foundations be remov'd, 
" What can the righteous do ? " 

But since 'tis not 
So much the object of our present lay 
To vindicate eternal Providence, 
As prove there _s a Providence, and thence 
That there must be a Power supreme, (for time 
And space would fail to note each question vague 
That cavillers can bring, or to enforce 
One half the evidence the subject yields) 
We but select a little of what seems 
To us most prominent. 

The kind supplies 
Of full provision for all living things 
Declare a general Providence ,• and loud 
The seasons speak the same in varied strains ; 
Varied, but their great object ever one \ 
Their themes, the burden of their songs, the same. 
Spring y leaping from the lap of Winter, smiles 
Rejoicing in her glad escape , and bids 
All nature smile in sympathy. She gives 
The early promise of profusion full, 
Calls on the herbage and the tender grass 
To pierce the soften'd bosom of the earth, 
And from their wint'ry torpor wakes the trees, 
Quick circulating through each bough and twig 
The vital sap, whose rich exuberance 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY- 93 

Bursts out in blossoms and in foliage green. 
The strength of Summer pushes into life 
Fruits and the seeds of herbage : to the blade 
Of the young harvest adds the stalk and ear, 
Confirming Spring's first promise ; and rewards 
With store of provender the patient brute, 
Man's fellow-labourer in the round of toil. 
Autumn her signet stamps upon the whole, 
That signet whose inscription is—" 'Tis done/ 
The face of plenty is in smiles array'd 5 
The peasant, joyful, sees his wishes crown'd 5 
And the broad land is with abundance stored, 
Last, Winter comes, and, with his freezing breath 
As in an e^-shell, closes up the earth : 
While Nature, brooding, sits to germinate. 
And preparation make for Spring's return. 

These, then, in ever changing lays, proclaim 
The being of a Providence;-— and these 
Now r whispering soft the incense of sweet youth ; 
Now lifting up a louder note to heaven, 
With the hoarse thunder for its swelling base ; 
Now in the jocund songs of harvest-home , 
Now bellowing in Winter's dreary blast, 
Tune their high anthem for the ear of man. 

Nor is all-ruling Wisdom less displayed 
In that which Atheists oftentimes have urged 
As proof sufficient that there is no God j 
The animosities of animals, 



94 THE DEITY. [PART 

That make them madly on each other prey. 

For since by sin came death into the world, 

And nature's harmony was thus destroyed 5 

As all that breathe must, some way, meet their end, 

Were there not such quick finishers of life, 

Oh ! how deplorable their state would be, 

When lingering in old age, or keen disease, 

Who neither moral powers nor reason own, 

To teach them how to shun the' assaults of pain, 

Or how to aid their fellows in distress. 

Half worn with the acuteness of disease, 

Half famish'd through their inability 

To seek the food they need for their support. 

A sad, sad spectacle would they present, 

And hellish legions might indeed suppose 

That God was baffled by sin's entry here 5 

Since creatures whom he made for happiness, 

Had, by the defalcation of mankind, 

Become the very dregs of wretchedness. 

But what is now the case ? they die indeed, 
(For that dread sentence has been pass'd on all,) 
Yet while they live, they live not in death's fear. 
In their short lives they know the full extent 
Of joys they are capacitated for ; 
And present suffering, present danger known, 
Alone can wake in them a present pang. 
The hare, whc\se foes are often at her heels, 
Is nathless playful, and doth frisk about 



ROOK IV.] THE DEITY, 95 

The meadows green, in plenitude of joy. 

The victim of the serpents' deadliest kind 

Sports in full gaiety, until, allured 

By the eye's wily, fascinating glance, 

It hears the rattle tell its instant doom. 

The lark that bids sweet welcome to the morn 

Heeds not the pointed gun, until it feels 

The warm shot shiver its defenceless wing, 

And while a moment, haply, thought may dwell 

On its lov'd mate and helpless orphan brood, 

Its eyes close on the light whose birth it sang. 

The beast, that's driven to the slaughter-house, 

Fed for our use, enjoys the food we give. 

And the young dog,, upon the river's bank, 

Whose playful mischief call'd its death-doom down j. 

Or whom, perhaps, in very tenderness, 

His master, who no longer can support, 

Bereaves of life, to save from famishing, 

Or from the cruelty of others' hands, 

Licks fondly from his cheeks the parting tears ; 

Plays with the stone that hangs about his neck, 

And feels no pain till struggling in the wave ; 

While the scarce cruel hand that flung it there 

Brushes a dew-drop from the' averted eye 

That shuns a sight so rending. Joy, true joy, 

Scarce mix'd with woe, is ever to be found 

Among less gifted animated things, 

And speaks their Maker's pure benevolence °, 



96 THE DEITY. [PART 

And all the ways in which it is obtain'd 
Reveal his kindly providential care, 
" Who satisfies each living thing's desire, 
And feeds them with the fatness of the earth.' 

The fair apportioning of bliss or woe, 
As far as outward circumstances rule, 
Among all classes of the human race, 
That Providence declares 3 for, though, 'tis sooth, 
True happiness with virtue only dwells, 
And meek Religion, on her dove-like wing, 
Seeks out its fairest, most luxuriant scenes^— 
Yet is there much in outward circumstance 
Greatly conducive to the general end. 
Bliss does not dwell in riches > } they but give 
A promissory note, which, when the mind 
Presents for payment, it, chagrin'd, will find 
Is of a broken firm. I grant, indeed, 
The use of riches, in their proper way, 
In feeding hunger, clothing nakedness, 
And giving kind relief to those who need, 
Can purchase us increasing store of joy 5 
But, in possession of this vain world's gear 
It dwells not ; for the poor man's fervent hope 
Is truest riches, and the rich man's fear 
Is perfect indigence 5 nor is the bed 
Of straw less welcome to the wearied frame 
Than to fat Luxury her couch of down. 
Sweet hope and love are this world's choicest goods > 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 9* 

The most refreshing fruit its desert yields, 

To cheer the weary pilgrim on his way 5 

The very well-springs of our earthly bliss j 

And they who most possess have least to hope — 

While love dwells oftener in the lowly cot 

Than in the gilded palace of the great, 

For nature's bosom is her seat, and more 

She likes the shew of rude sincerity 

Than courtly fashion, or false flattery's wiles. 

'Tis true the mind of sensibility 
Is capable of knowing largest joy ; 
As the broad plains of spicy Araby, 
That stock the earth with gums and rich perfumes, 
Far stronger than old Europe's colder climes, 
Reflect the full beams of the orb of day. 
But, like those plains, they also sometimes know 
The horrors of a desolating hour ; 
When harrow'd feeling takes the simoom's blast, 
And buries them beneath its spreading rage : 
While they whose souls have little room for bliss 
Know little void when that has pass'd away, 
And ope small channels for the floods of woe. 

Nor, whilst of general Providence we sing, 
Would we forget to dwell some little space 
On that affection of the human heart — 
Known from the highest to the lowest class, 
In nations civilized and barbarous — 



98 THE DEITY. [PART I, 

Which counteracts the thirst of novelty, 

The lust of honour, and the lust of wealth, 

Supplies with comforts e'en the destitute, 

And wreathes contentment round our present state, 

Whate'er it be, — the love of native home. 

Here Providence indeed is seen, with this 

Largely supplied we need but little more 

To constitute enough. For every wretch 

Finds joy in home -, the very Esquimaux 

Love their snow hovels -, and wild Arabs love 

Their desert sands. And wherefore marvel ? here 

They first drew breath, and on those faces gazed 

That, smiling, hail'd their entry in the world, 

Here first young Hope, bright as a boreal flame, 

Danced in its own pure light $ and Love here knew 

Its earliest throbs of ecstasy. Go talk 

To them of smooth civility, of lands 

Well cultivated, houses elegant, 

And all the pomp and equipage of state — 

They, wond'ring, listen, but they envy not. 

ie Ye have no seals in England" — and to these 

The sea-calf, that supplies their every need, 

More than repays the loss of all you name 5 

While the loved date-trees of Arabia 

Are more than her fond children would exchange 

For our full complement of comforts here. 

Oh native home ! dear, pleasing, native home, 
I, too, must own the influence of thy charms. 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 99 

Thy banks, oh Trent ! or thine, more humble Rea ! 

Where, in my boyish hours, I oft have stray'd, 

For me have beauties, when I, standing, gaze 

On ye, which nobler rivers cannot boast ; 

Here, chance, remains a tree, beneath whose shade 

I've sat and mock'd the bubbling of the wave, 

Ere thought was wedded to corrosive care : 

There is a gulph in miniature, where oft 

My hand has plunged to catch the finny tribe 

Which, heedless of their fate, as I of mine, 

Were sporting gaily in the sunny ray : 

And yonder fields, whose daisies have supplied 

W T ith jocund pastime my vacation hours. 

These, these, though trifling they perhaps may seem, 

And hold no beauties to the stranger's eye, 

Twine themselves round my heart with such a spell 

Of witchery, as nought in life can break 3 

Nor can the pencils of succeeding years, 

With all the colours on the mind they lay, 

Have power to' efface those earlier scenes of joy. 

But not in outlines only do we find 
The traces of this Providential Hand \ 
It fills each portion of the picture up, 
And all its hues supplies. <e Hast thou not known ? 
Hast thou not heard?" hast thou not sometimes seen 
Such things as made thee start? hast thou ne'er found 
Presumption punish'd with immediate death, 

F<2 



100 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Without a natural, apparent cause \ 

And God, — perchance by no uncommon means, 

Yet in uncommon ways, — reveal Himself 

To those who have denied Him ? Hast thou not 

Seen wickedness brought low ? wrong'd innocence 

Made manifest, and crime to justice brought, 

In modes so very wonderful, as gave 

The proverb unto nature's deathless bard, 

That " Murder, though it hath no tongue, will speak 

With organs most miraculous r " Behold, 

In these examples of directing power, 

Shafts from the naked bow of God sent forth 

To shew whose quiver 'tis supplies them all ; 

Traits which should teach thy erring soul, oh man, 

Kot only that there is a Lord Supreme, 

But that He sitteth at the helm of things, 

And, through Duration's dark, eventful sea, 

Guides all the systems of the universe. 

Let Volney, in the map of fancy, trace 
The ruins and the revolutions vast 
Of Empires ; we can trace as well as he, 
And find such causes for the great events 
As he ne'er dreamt of 5 though, had his blind eyes^ 
Been open'd to have seen a little more 
Than just to scan the surface of the things 
On which he treated, he could scarce have fail'd 
Beholding them so link'd with their effects, 
And seeing lines indented deeply there. 



BOOK IV. J THE DEITY. 101 

What wrought the fall of Nineveh ? what wrought 
The fall of Babylon ? of Egypt what ? 
What leveird Tyre and Stdon with the dust : 
Deluged with fire the cities of the plain ; 
Made Tadmor in the desert lose itself; 
Brought down the towers of high Jerusalem ; 
And broke the haughty strength of modern Rome ? 
Iniquity ! iniquity ! Their cup 
Was full ; and they have drunk it to the dregs 
The sweeping winds of desolation burst 
Upon them in their fury ! They have felt 
The shower'd-down torrents of Jehovah's wrath ! 
And oft, at intervals, amid the storm 
Of fell destruction, as it howl'd around. 
The man that listen'd with attentive ear 
Distinctly might have caught a thunder- voice, 
Proclaiming, as their death-note — ff Touch not mine 
(f Anointed, neither do my prophets harm, 
rt Or, do it at your cost." 

Read, read the book 
Which thou despisest 5 read the Bible, there 
See Providence display'd to Jacob's race, 
In various ways which history will confirm. 
And, — if the voice of nature cannot speak 
Of its great Author in a tone so loud 
To reach thine ear, deaf adder ! deaf to all 
The sweet notes of the charmer, — read awhile 
The prophesies recorded in his word ; 
Read them, bereft of foolish prejudice, 



102 THE DEITY. [PART 1. 

(If thou can'st banish it) that they are false — 

Which never can be prov'd so 5 — read them well, 

Then let the' events of each succeeding age 

Stamp with the signet of eternal truth 

Vast numbers of its pages. Hear the strains 

Of Judah's bard, Isaiah, (soft, though strong. 

And beautiful almost beyond compare,) 

Speak of the Man of Sorrows 5 and describe 

His birth, His life, His work, and patient death, 

As accurately as the' historian's page. 

Hear Jeremiah and Ezekiel tell 

The woes near falling on their faithless land. 

Hear Daniel speak of earth's great monarchies, 

While yet conceal'd within the womb of time ; 

Hear Moses, and the lips of Him who spake 

As never man spake, tell Jerusalem 

Its doom $ and see a Titus, though himself 

A stoic, heeding nothing the reproach 

Of Zeno's sect, or pity's melting cries, 

Turn the fall'n Jews as vagabonds from home ; 

And raze to earth the temple of the Lord, 

(Forsaken of its great Inhabitant,) 

Bidding the plough pass over it. And hear 

The exile great of Patmos, the belov'd 

And loving one, St. John, tell of events, 

Which since have taken place, in words so plain, 

So palpable, that but the stubborn lips 

Of unbelief and madness dare decry. 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 103 

These,, as with sun-beams, write the name of God, 
And write it legibly ; and, if thou should'st 
Find in his word some things which thou canst not 
Unravel, wherefore marvel ? Can'st thou think,, 
Vain, finite thing, to grasp infinitude ; 
Or, with thy plumb-line, sound eternity ? 
Rank madness ! " His ways are as high above 
" Thine as the heavens are high above the earth, 
" So high His thoughts above the thoughts of man V 
And who shall in the balance weigh His acts, 
His edicts ? He from the beginning sees 
The end, and who shall say He does not know 
What figures best will shadow forth events 
Hid in the dark womb of futurity ? 
Or know how best to guide His suffering church 
To her eternal rest? Ambitious one., 
Who would'st direct thy God ? first let the earth 
Thou holdest of him, shew thee fit to rule : 
Stop the career of vice 5 oppression hurl 
From his high throne of sculls -, release the slave 5 
Release thyself^ the galley-slave of hell, 
That row'st its vessels o'er the gulph of life : 
Regain the blest estate which thou hast lost ; 
And shew thyself God's perfect image here, 
Or make thy wisdom manifest ; correct 
The laws of nature 5 bid the seasons roll 
More regularly 5 purify the flood 
Of light that issues from the orb of day ; 



1^4 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

And then — but if thy wisdom could ascend 
Such heights, then would'st thou see the God of heav'n 
In a far purer light ; acknowledge all 
He does is right ; and know thyself a worm. 
The' attempt to fathom the Unsearchable, 
To dive into His hidden mysteries, 
And seek the springs whence all his acts proceed, 
In me were most unseemly, yet,, methinks, 
Thus much of Providence is plainly shewn 5 
And thus much therefore would the Muse declare ; — 
God after his own image made mankind, 
To have dominion 5 and now man has sold 
His birthright, sold it to his bitterest foe : 
Now he has sold himself for nought, has lost 
The loveliness in which he was created, 
And given dominion to the prince of Hell. 
God, by his work in providence and grace,, 
Restores the lost estate 3 as His decrees 
Are irreversible, and man must shew 
His image forth, and have dominion still. 
Yes, and regenerated man does shew 
That image forth, more perfect than before 5 
Displaying e'en His moral attributes 
In hating evil and in loving good. 
And though awhile is sov'reignty withheld, 
The proud usurper soon shall be cast out. 
All things are working rightly towards their end; 
The wheels of Providence keep rolling on 5 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 105 

Eventful Time is hasting to its close ; 

And, when the glorious consummation comes, 

When death o'ergorg'd shall vomit up his prey.. 

And sin be cast into the lake of fire — 

When mortal puts on immortality, 

And man shall leave corruption in the grave, 

Redeem'd from death, redeemed from hell, redeemed 

From all the curses of a broken law, 

Redeem'd from sin and mutability, 

He shall display God's image fairer yet 

And have dominion as His King and Priest, 

Such is the general outline, as to me 
Apparent, of the work of Providence 
In this our world, while Time is on the wing. 
To cast out sin and death, restore mankind, 
And place on firmer footing than before ; 
x\nd, shewing His own moral excellence, 
Still prove Himself the ever-living friend 
Of those who humbly put their trust in Him, 
While to their foes and His consuming fire. 
To which great end, though contrary they seem, 
Events are moving all. Messiah reigns, 
" And His unsuffering kingdom yet will come." 
But be this as it may, a Providence 
Is manifest 5 and as, through all His works., 
Eternal order is by God display 'd, 
Reason bears witness that the wondrous scheme 
Known unto Him alone, which all involves, 

F 5 



106 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Is well adjusted in its every part • 

And there, as through all nature's wide expanse, 

Sweet order, lovely order, smiles serene. 

And wilt thou, sceptic, thou, whose feeble eyes 
Can only view a small part of the scene, 
Because thou can'st not see its loveliness, 
Pronounce it all confusion ? say 'tis all 
Without design, and tending unto nought ? 
Turn up thine eyes on high : behold the stars ! 
Can'st thou within thy swelling soul conceive 
Where these are fix'd ? where each its station holds ? 
And compass their arrangement, as thou can'st 
The' arrangement of a garden's spangling flowers ? 
Till this thou can'st, pretend not to discern 
Confusion in the works of Providence, 
Of which thou only see'st the twinkling light 
Distant and dim, that its existence tells. 

But there is stronger evidence than all 
Enumerated yet, superior still, 
As much as light is to the dusky hue 
That ushers in the fullness of the day. 
Which (and if haply' it gain for me the badge 
Of superstition, and the' Enthusiast's name, 
I'll gladly bear it for the sake of Him 
Who wore a crown of piercing thorns for me,) 
I will uphold, as proving of itself 
Sufficiently the being of a God: — 
I mean the experience of Christians' hearts, 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 107 

Teeming with almost miracles. 

Talk not 
To me of causes and effects, — what cause 
Could make a man forget his native self, 
And start to life anew ? What cause could wake 
A hatred of the things which erst he lov'd 
And revell'd in, and rolled beneath his tongue 
As a sweet morsel, and did look upon 
As all chat he should ever know of joy ? — 
And love of what he hated theretofore 
TVith perfect hatred, persecuting oft 
With all the zeal that malice could impart ? 
What cause could turn the vilest of the vile 
To the most moral 3 the opinions change^ 
Of heady men, blasphemers, infidels, 
Wand'ring as once I wandered, 'neaih the blaze 
Of false philosophy, whose dazzling beams 
Blinded my young eyes to the light of truth, 
And turn them from dumb idols unto God : 
Could make hypocrisy sincere -, the thief 
Honest ; the liar love the truth ; the slave 
Of brutal passion chaste -, the miser free 
And liberal ■ the spendthrift prone to save 
That he ma]/- have a portion wherewithal 
To give relief to others in distress ; 
Yea, murderers love their neighbours as themselves? 
These things accompany the christian's faith , 
And, though I grant that there are counterfeits, 



1CS THE DEITY. [PART I. 

Yet to be counterfeits there needs must be 

The sterling coin they imitate so well. 

Nor are these all. What wondrous cause could cleanse 

The conscience from its stains ; could set it free 

At once from guilt and fear ; give liberty 

To the condemned • bear witness with our souls 

That we are children of the Holy One ? 

And demonstrate to a sane, thinking man, 

He hath received a spirit in his heart, 

A spirit be possess'd not heretofore, 

Which makes him look with confidence towards God, 

Exclaiming "Abba! Father?" What high cause 

Could make us see (what erst we did not see) 

In what seem'd chaos, order ? what appeared 

Foolishness, wisdom ? what we once beheld 

As but the ravings of absurdity, 

A picture of our souls' experience 

Drawn even to perfection ? What great cause 

Could make a passage of the word of God 

Run like a flash of lightning through the veins, 

Revive the drooping, give the mourner ease, 

Pierce guilt more keenly than a two-edged sword, 

Overflow the heart with love, or waken joy, 

Such joy as none but Sons of God can know, 

A foretaste of eternal blessedness ? 

What cause could give such answers unto prayer 

As Christians find, direct, propitious, clear, 

From the full storehouses of heaven and earth 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 109 

Supplying physical and mental wants t 
Such answers as they scarcely dared to hope, 
Although they craved them, giving them relief 
In trouble, counsel when they need it most, 
Bringing to nought the malice of their foes, 
And lifting bulwarks 'gainst the tempter's rage r 
What cause, except the power of God, — that power 
That made and rules all nature r 

Could these spring 
From Superstition, whose infernal breath 
Is direful as the raging pestilence, 
Whose eyes are ever seeking scenes of woe, 
Whose ears are ravish'd with her victims' groans ? 
When vice and virtue are synonymous 3 
When light and darkness are but different terms 
For the same thing ; when good from evil springs 
As from its native source, and Samiel's blast 
With verdure clothes the scenes it wanders o'er, 
Then will I think that Superstition's power 
Could cause effects so fair, And these are not 
Mere wanderings of the brain, wild theories 
Without a base to rest upon, but truths 
Daily and hourly proved by those on whom 
The light of life hath shone. And make not these 
Sufficient shew of Providence r oh ! yes ; 
The christian knows and feels it ; well he knows 
In whom he hath believ'd, and fondly trusts, 
E'en as a child would trust a father's care, 



110 THE DEITY. [PART I. 

In His high arm omnipotent ; while peace 
And hope, and love, enliven life's short scene. 
And make earth fair as Eden in its bloom. 

Convulsions which fill nations with alarm, 
Rumours of wars, plagues, earthquakes, floods and fires 
Scarce move his soul ; shut safely in the ark 
Of Covenant love, the batt'ring tempest spends 
Its wrath, — he still is safe, nor can the voice 
Of the tremendous thunder more affright 
His soul, if God's supporting power be there, 
Than can the " summer evening's latest sigh " 
That fans the heated bosom of the vale. 
He knows that all is working well ; he knows 
That the all- wise Jehovah must do right 5 
That every shaking of the heavens and earth, 
Whether by preaching up the cross of Christ, 
Or by such labouring pangs as rend the loins 
Of Nature, previous to some ominous birth, 
Is but preparatory to that hour 
When he shall ride and triumph gloriously, 
Take to Himself His mighty power and reign, 
And to the very ends of earth breathe peace, 
And, knowing this, he can rejoice in all, 
And ; bowing his assenting head, exclaim 
" Not my will, oh my God ! but Thine be done." 
While they who hold a Providence in scorn, 
Tremble with portents of some awful change, 
By no directing Guardian's hand brought forth, 



BOOK IV. J THE DEITY. Ill 

By no all-wise directing power controul'd. 

Oh Thou, who art Almighty ! and appear'st 
Far most so when least mighty means are used 
To' assert Omnipotence, — who with a reed 
Can'st break the stedfast rocks 3 with foolishness 
O'erturn the wisdom of the wise 3 and can'st, 
If such Thy will, e'en with this feeble strain 
Convince the sceptic's stubborn heart, — great King 
Eternal ! Thou, to whom I bow the knee, 
And with uplifted heart would fain respond 
The song that Nature, on the gale of Time, 
Pours forth — assist me, now my earliest strain 
Is to conclusion brought, to sing Thy praise 
Once more. I would be but an echo, I 
Would but return the multitudinous sounds 
Which ever and anon strike on mine ear, 
"Bespeaking Thine existence 3 and could I 
Reverberate the lofty notes I bear, 
With all their native energy, my song 
Had then been far more perfect, more complete 
But who shall sing Thee fully ? Thou art high 
Above all height, exalted far above 
All praise and blessing of created things. 
Who shall declare Thee fully ? Thou art low 
Beneath all depth 3 beneath the utmost hell 3 
In whose dark howling caverns, too, Thou reign'st, 
Although thy smiling presence is not there, 
To cheer the dismal horrors of their gloom. 



ll c 2 THE DEITY. [PART J. 

Who shall declare Thee fully ? Thou art wide 

Beyond all width ; beyond the universe, 

Beyond the stretch of thought, unlimited, 

Infinite, — not the tongue of finite things ; 

Not man ; not angels ; not ten thousand worlds \ 

For they but see a little part of Thee, 

Which little part they sing, — the all they know, 

The all that they can know. Ineffable ! 

Incomprehensible ! my throbbing heart 

Those songs, then, would resound, which like broad 

Of life roll in, roll out, in streams of joy, [floods 

And send them, breathing incense, up to Thee ! 

Jehovah ! Thou from everlasting art 

To everlasting unenduring;* through 

All ages present, which to Thee appear 

One perfect now. Jehovah ! Thou dost dwell 

Throughout all space ; immensity itself 

Is but an attribute of Thee ! And Thou 

Art He that changeth not., while u rolling years' 

Pass o'er thy wide creation, numerous 

As billows o'er a sand-bank of the sea. 

Thou madest heaven and earth, Thou madest, too, 

Their hosts innumerable, and Thou ruFst 

Omnipotent, Omniscient One, o'er all. 

* The term unenduring can only, perhaps, be strictly applied 
to the abstract Deity as now subsisting in the person of the 
Father. 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 113 

Thou speak' st — and worlds come forth from nothingness 

Countless as dew-drops on the breast of morn. 

Thou speak'st again — and all creation stands 

To list the mighty mandate ; rushing winds, 

These rearing mountains in the vast profound ; 

Those wandering over verdant scenes to catch 

The lovers' tales of fondness, or pursue 

The schoolboy's feather, and delight his heart 

To see it wafted by their breath along, 

Stop in their full career 3— -spring to thine hand 

The thunderbolts of vengeance 3 — rays of light 

Stay their swift course to know their destiny,— 

And round Thee wait the ministers of death, 

War, famine, pestilence; sweet Mercy, too, 

Turns unto Thee her meek imploring eyes, 

And stretches out her eai^er wings for flight. 

Thou smiVst — diffusive joy spreads o'er the face 

Of all things ; nature smiles in sympathy 3 

Worlds catch the influence of the genial ray 3 

Mountains and valleys laugh aloud for joy ; 

Rivers, delighted, in their course roll on 3 

Woodlands resound with melody 3 and glad, 

The little children of the village clap 

Their feeble hands, and gambol o'er the green. 

Thou frown st — suns lose their rays, to darkness turn, 

And uncreated Light itself grows dim 3 

Whirlwinds and winter tempests, starting forth 

From slumber, Thy permission wait to lift 



1 14 THE DEITY. [PART 

Their crests terrific, and, hoarse bellowing, rush 
To battle with the elements, and spread 
Grim desolation o'er the fair serene ; 
And dread tornadoes gather up their strength, 
And eager list the word that bids them stretch 
Emblackening o'er the firmament, and make 
Cities and islands desert. Thou art wroth — 
A shivering horror runs through nature's veins, 
And, staggering like a drunken man, she reels 
Backwards and forwards in immensity 5 
While fell Destruction, rising in his might, 
Bursts through the net that held his fury in, 
As though it were a web of gossamer, 
And gluts his famine with the wreck of worlds. 
But who shall sing Thee fully ? harp, awake 
A loftier strain ! To God ! to God ! the song 
Aspires 5 to God ! to God ! lift high thy tones 
Rejoicing. Fountain of eternity ! 
Being in whom immensity inheres ! 
Centre and source of moral excellence, 
How shall I praise Thee ? wilt Thou deign to list 
The humble breathings of the rebel man, 
And own an incense in his feeble lays ? 
He does, He smiles propitious ! harp, awake 
A loftier strain ! His condescension sing, 
His love immeasurable — but the soul 
Shrinks from a task which all eternity 
Can ne'er complete • the torrent of wild song 



BOOK IV.] THE DEITY. 115 

Fails at its fount : the busy fingers greet 

The harp-strings with a fainter, feebler touch, 

And die the notes of melody away. 

So may my strength exhaust itself at last -, 

So peacefully my mortal being close 5 

And my last whisper, be, oh God ! Thy praise. 



THE END OF THE FOURTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY, 

PART II. 

ON 

THE NATURE OF GOD, 

OR THE 

iHanner of tfje SOnne &ub*i$tmtt. 



'''■ There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word , 
and the Spirit, and these three are one/' - St. John, 



Any person who has read Professor Kidd's " Views of the 
Trinity" will see that I am greatly indebted to him for the sub- 
ject matter of the first three books of this Second Part of the 
Poem. That splendid production of human reason furnished me 
with a great part of the historical and traditionary evidence ga- 
thered together in the fifth book ; and in a large portion of the 
sixth, and a small part of the seventh, I have endeavoured to 
compress the substance of his elaborate treatises, interspersing it, 
wherever opportunity occurred, with poetical flowers. 



THE DEITY. 



BOOK V. 



ARGUMENT. 

The subject of the second part proposed, with an address to tie 
Deity. — The fall of Man, and his consequent ignorance of 
the true Nature of God. — The remains of Trinity-Worship 
traced through all Nations. — Ancient Philosophers, who 
asserted the Trinity of Deity. — Origin of Idolatry, and its 
course through the Earth till the days of Christ. — The rising 
of, and Apostrophe to, the Sun of Righteousness. — The Spread 
of the Gospel. — Apostrophe to St. Paul. — Modern Deism 
considered and challenged. — Concluding Hymn. 



BOOK V. 



As a young eagle, whose scarce feather' d wings 
Have for the first time dared the tract unknown, 
Pierc'd through the broken clouds, and (far elate 
Above earth's circling exhalations borne,) 
Flapped with new rapture in their kindred heav'n, 
Whilst his bold eye, by exultation fired, 
Gaz'd on the unbeclouded source of day, 
Returning from that first advent'rous flight, 
Feels his breast strung with confidence anew, 
And scarcely rests, ere back again he bounds 
Upon the wind, and with the thickening clouds 
Rushes to battle in some higher region 
More wild, more distant from his parent-nest — 
So, safely from my first advent'rous flight 



122 THE DEITY. [PART 

Return'd, uncheck'd by Atheistic clouds, 
I trust myself upon the heaven once more ; 
Pierce through the Deist's denser atmosphere, 
And on the unbeclouded Godhead gaze. 

My God ! my King ! one portion of my task 
Completed, — or laid down if incomplete, — 
(As what can perfect come from mortal hand !) 
And, far as Thou hast given me light and power, 
Demonstrated Thy being, — oh ! assist 
Thy servant yet again. A heavier task, 
And still more unpoetic meets me now ; 
A task requiring studies deep and vast, 
And rich supplies from learning's treasur'd stores, 
Such as but rarely bless their lot who toil 
Through the long day for life's necessities. 
Yet do but Thou assist me, when my mind, 
Emancipate, exulting springs to Thee, 
While my material faculties employ 
Their strict attentions to the clashing loom, 
And do but Thou upon my midnights smile 
When freed from daily labour, with a fresh 
And keener relish I my theme pursue, 
Then will I ask not ease, nor heed the loss 
Of balmy sleep, or that which others call 
Sweet relaxation $ happier far than they, 
While like a mountain & torrent thought rolls on 
And my swoll'n heart seems bursting with ideas 
It scarce can vent in language as they rise. 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 123 

Thy nature now, Almighty One, I sing ! 

And as Thou dost exist would Thee pourtray, 

In confutation of deistic dreams, 

Shewing by Reason's light thou art tri-une. 

Come then, Celestial Spirit Increate ! 

Shed Thine own self upon me, as erewhile 

Thou, like a flood of love, cam'st rushing down 

And fill'dst the chosen ones in Palestine, 

And thou, my harp, resume thy sweetest tones $ 

That Poesy may spread o'er Reason's page 

A loveliness it elsewise could not gain, 

Pleasing the fancy as it feeds the mind, 

While trinity in unity, displayed 

Without the aid of scripture, plainly shews 

The God of Scripture is the Living God. 

Created in the image of his Lord, 
Man, while he kept his pristine excellence, 
Quaff'd light at its pure fountain. Then his soul 
Was filTd with light $ for it was filFd with God, 
And God is light. But when at length he fell 
By disobedience, soon was he immersed 
In darkness. Night, deep night came o'er him then, 
Deep, thick, black night, that scarce possess'd a star 
To make its horrors visible. He feels 
His abject state $ and many a fond essay 
Makes at redemption, though he knows it not, 
For every aspiration after power, 
(That precious boon by his Creator giv'n,) 

g2 



124 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

And every effort at improvement made, 

By education, punishments and laws, 

Is but a vain endeavour to regain 

The state from which he *s fall'n -, to be regain'd 

By nought except a Mediator's blood. 

The voice of nature too declares his fall : 

Roars the loud tempest ? do the sea-rocks wreck 

The frighted mariner ? does earth ope wide 

Her dreadful jaws and swallow, as in wrath, 

Whole nations up ? do hurricanoes sweep, 

As with destruction s besom, land and flood ? 

Do bellowing volcanoes belch forth flame, 

In torrents pour their molten entrails out 

And deluge cities ? or does ghastly Death 

Stalk o'er life's path-ways with a grin of joy, 

And seek to gorge his never sated maw 

With beauty and luxuriance? These are all 

The* effects of sin , and these aloud declare 

The glory is departed -, man is fallen : 

While Murder rears aloft his blood-red hand 3 

War for a bauble wades through seas of gore 5 

And Tyranny and Rapine rend the air 

With shrieks and groans that, in a feebler voice, 

Echo the note of those convulsions wild, — 

" The glory is departed, man is fallen. " 

But though the light of Nature manifests 
That w T e are sunken from our first estate, 
Still Nature's light is darkness - : and deprived 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 125 

Of Heaven's irradiating beams, man rov'd 
From shade to deeper shade, until he lost 
All knowledge of Jehovah $ and bow'd down 
To stocks and stones, and things of carved work, 
Form'd after Fancy's portraiture 3 or paid 
Blind homage to the sun and starry host. 
And though, at times, a philosophic mind 
O'er the dark welkin shed a meteor blaze, 
Twas but a meteor blaze, too weak to last, 
Too faint to light him in the search of God. 

Yet, gross as was the darkness of his mind, 
And wild as were his hopeless wanderings, 
Tradition, if 'tis fairly follow'd out, 
In every quarter of the world, will shew 
That man's progenitors in early times 
Worshipp'd and own'd a tri-une Deity. 
Chaldea, China, Egypt, India, 
Greece, Persia, Scythia, Scandinavia, Rome, 
Britain, and all those late discover'd realms 
Named from Americus, with one accord 
(To all who trace their superstitions up 
Unto the Fountain-head) proclaim aloud 
That, through the darkness of the human mind, 
Their polytheism was derived thence 5 
And every system of Idolatry 
First rose from worship of the Living God, 
When man, to fancy giving up the reins 3 
Began to substitute philosophy 



126 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

For the plain lessons which his Maker gave ; 
And shew that all their best and wisest men 
Beheld the great First-Cause as three-in-one. 

When, at th* Eternal's high command, the floods 
Subsided, and the earth, long drench' d in tears 
Of penitence for sin, brightened once more 
Her wave-w'ash'd features to a joyous smile, 
The patriarch Noah unto all his race, 
Whilst he abode a pilgrim on the earth, 
Made known the nature of the Deity. 

To China, Ham the knowledge carried forth, 
(Himself the founder of that ancient state,) 
Where, till the days of their Confucius, 
They, as a tri-une spirit worshipp'd God $ 
And in their sanctuaries hymn'd His praise, 
Without an image or a symbol there. 

Chaldea's region, chief abiding place 
Of Shem, of all the post-diluvian world, 
Was probably the earliest peopled land, 
Whence the surrounding nations all derived 
Their knowledge of the arts and sciences \ 
And her great Zoroaster, first of those 
Who, from the hillock of philosophy, 
Dar'd lift their eyes to the Eternal One, 
To His disciples in plain terms declar'd 
That " The Paternal Monad amplifies 
Itself, and generates a Duality, 
Which by the Monad sits> and shining forth 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 127 

With intellectual beams, o'er all things rules. 
For Deity in Triad shines throughout 
The world, of which a Monad is the head :" 
Which Triad, Virtue, Wisdom, Truth he styl'd. 

Losing its clearness still, on either hand 
Thence roird the stream of sacred doctrine forth 
To Indostan and Persia 3 varying oft 
In breadth and depth, but ever bearing signs 
Of that all-glorious Fountain whence it flow'd 5 
And Brahma, Vishenou, and Siva here, 
There Oromasdes, Mithra, Ahriman, 
Shew forth corruptions of the' Eternal Three. 

Through middle Asia, more or less corrupt, 
With Shem's and Ham's remaining progeny 
The doctrine spread ; and unto Egypt borne 
By Taut, Phoenicia's early emigrant, 
Upon the fertile banks of Nile, we view 
The same great Triad in another form, 
(Not deeply darken'd yet, though not so clear 
As in His primal loveliness reveal' d) 
In persons of Osiris, Cneph, and Phtha. 
Whilst Britain, seat of ancient Druidism, 
Isle of the sea, on Europe's western verge ? 
With some corruptions similar to these, 
Maintain'd the worship of the God of heaven • 
For though few traces of the Trinity 
Are found amongst Druidical remains, 
Excepting figures of a triple form^ 



128 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Yet, since their rites and ceremonies all 

Betoken them of eastern origin, 

And fair comparison will demonstrate 

That from the same primeval source they came 

From which the' Egyptian priesthood, and from which 

The Persian Magi, and the Brahmans sprung, 

'Tis next to certain that, in common too 

With them, they taught a Trinity in God. 

Northward the race of Japhet bent their way, 
From the Chaldean realms, peopling the isles j 
And farther northward still to the vast tracts 
Of Scythia, and Europe's upper climes. 
And wheresoe'er their footsteps left a print 
Upon the sand, they left the record there 
That they this doctrine knew, this doctrine own'd. 
Orpheus in Greece, (the earliest of her bards) 
Light, Counsel, Life, personified to form 
A triad in their worshipp'd Jupiter. 
Italia, in the Isle of Samothrace, 
Long ere Eneas left the Dardan shore, 
By her Cabiri-worship plainly shew'd 
Her ancient knowledge of the Trinity. 
The Dahli Lama, in North Asia's realms, 
Patriarch, priest, and king, his people taught 
The true subsistence of a triune God. 
Siberia, on the north of Europe, by 
Artugon, Schugo-Teugon, Tangara, 
This the Creator^ that the God of Hosts* 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 129 

The third the Spirit of celestial love, — 

With Scandinavia on her western shore, 

By Odin, Thor, and Frea, plainly told 

Their knowledge of this great eternal truth : — 

And Rome, though founded in a darksome hour, 

(Herself the darkner of what light remained) 

Displays the last faint glimmering of truth, — - 

Like the last ray of twilight, shining through 

The little crevice of some mouldering tower — - 

In the great triad of the Capitol^ 

Jove, Juno, and Minerva, worshipped there . 

Whilst fair Columbia, (though, as yet, the race 

That peopled her is veiled in dark surmise,) 

By the peculiar worship she maintained, 

When first discovered by old Europe's hordes, 

Her father sun, son sun, and brother sun, 

And Tanga-tanga, one in three, and three 

In one, declares that every tribe on earth, 

Or the progenitors of every tribe, 

Knew formerly the Triune God of Heaven, 

" But when they knew Him, glorified Him not 

As God $" for which, at length, he "gave them up 

To strong delusions, to believe a lie." 

Does not Tradition's, does not Nature's voice 
Declare a Trinity in Deity ? 
Witness, laborious Pythagoras^ 
Whose life was indefatigably spent 
In the great search of science and of God. 



130 THE DEITV [PART II. 

Witness Parmenides, and, most of all, 

Thou pupil of the martyr'd Socrates, 

Plato, whose three distinct hypostases, 

In one great essence, such resemblance bear 

To those by Revelation taught to man 

As bid all modern deists shrink abash'd 

From thy pure brilliance, and go hide themselves 

In the thick darkness of the clouds they raise. 

Ye lofty minds, whose maxims some e'en now 
Pretend to follow, true philosophers, 
Who sought whatever ye could find of God, 
How would your hearts have bounded to the voice 
Of God in flesh made manifest ! whom they 
W r ho follow up your systems hold in scorn ; 
And tuning o'er the first part of the strain 
Of angels, which, as though from heaven 'twere caught 
By inspiration, ye divinely sang, 
The closing numbers jarring discords deem. 
But ye were witnesses of darker times ; 
And shall in judgment 'gainst your followers 
Of these bright days of revelation rise, 
As well as those who in your twilight hour 
Denied or hated the fair truths ye taught. 

And did Thy purer worship, Lord of all ! 
Corrupted, generate mythologies 
Pregnant with folly ? whence could then arise 
The awful defalcation, say, oh Muse ! 
And trace its diverse operations on 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 131 

To the bright dawning of celestial day. 

As from the hour, when first into the dust 
The lovely fabric of perfection fell 
With dreadful crash, to the diluvian age — 
So from the deluge through succeeding years, 
Darker and darker grew the hemisphere -, 
And man, by nature prone from God to stray 
In folly's paths, with his contagious breath 
Impregnating the air, idolatry, 
Like a wide-spreading epidemic, raged 
O'er all the earth, save where, in Palestine, 
Jehovah kept His own pure worship up 5 
To make a high-way for the Virgin-born. 

Chaldea, mingling with her sacred rites 
Astronomy, and cabalistic arts, 
With dreams of the soul's transmigration, too, 
Soon on the borders of rank Paganism 
Securely slept ; when, o'er her 'wildered brain, 
Mad visions rush'd of Godhead in the stars 
Peculiarly dwelling, and the souls 
Of the departed reigning with him there. 
Then towards the stars her worship she addressed ; 
Gave them imagin'd streams of influence -, 
And symbolized, by purifying fire, 
The purer spirit whom she fancied there ; 
But most of all revered the sun of heaven -, 
Whence other nations, who look'd up to her 
For light surpasing what themselves possess'd, 



132 THE DEITY. [PART II 

The' example caught ; and to the sun ascribed 
Their choicest worship, as the 1 Eternal God, 
Known, more or less, almost through all the world 
As Moloch, Phoebus, Baal, Hercules, 
Sol, Oser, Oramasdes, Bel, Bel-ain. 

The Persian Magi, of Chaldea's sons 
The offspring, or perchance the counterparts, 
RefiVd upon the system they laid down ; 
Their Trinity of Godhead soon resolved 
Into three primal principles of things 5 
Perform'd diviner honours to the sun 5 
Fire deified, or almost deified 5 
And giving Oromasdes half the heavens, 
The other half bestow'd on Ahriman 5 
And with another Zoroaster's aid 
Set them to battle in the realms of space. 
Thence their wild schemes origination found 
Of warfare, kept continually up 
'Twixt good and evil in the moral world, 
And light and darkness in the physical. 
Thence, too, most likely, its perfection found 
That system which Chaldeans brought to birth, 
Astrology, bewilderer of the brain. 
And thence, we may presume, the Grecians, too, 
Gain'd their star-worship, (origin of all 
Their almost numberless divinities, 
Save Jove, the head and centre of them all,) 
Who, with the outcast race of fallen Troy, 



POOK V.I THE DEITY, 

Carried them forth to Italy and Rome. 

Egypt, with her Phoenician Taut, received 
Her early symbol of the Deity, 
A circle, with a serpent and its wings ; 
But not content with this degeneracy, 
Remodelled her Osiris Cneph and Phtha, 
Into Osiris, Isis, Orus first, 
And for the three hypostases of God, 
Worshipp'd the sun, the wind, and solar rays ; 
Then sunk, and sunk still deeper by degrees, 
Till her illiterate hosts, debased indeed, 
And all, perhaps, save those of priestly race, 
Became the grossest of idolaters -, 
And in their phantasies of numerous Gods, 
As though they scarce knew what to Deify, 
Paid sacred honours to the brutes of earth : 
While she herself, long famed for learning, bore 
The aspect of a general reservoir, 
Where Paganism emptied all its streams 5 
From which it was, sage Volney sapiently 
Drew muddy waters, much impregnated 
With man's vagaries, though retaining still 
Some symptoms of their ancient purity ; 
And thought, by casting them, and noting down 
Each great and small peculiarity, 
To overturn Theology en masse, 
And prove its systems but so many dreams. 

Hindostan, on the other hand, maintained 



133 



134 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Some little space a worship far more pure : 
But. through the use of graven images, 
Fell from the eminence on which she stood. 
For soon the vulgar horde forgot to look 
Above the symbol, to the God pourtrayed -, 
Adoring carved wood, and blocks of stone, 
And thus begetting multitudes of gods. 
And China, through the darkness of her sons, 
And the delusions of Satanic art, 
Mistaking her Confucius' prophecy,* 
Open'd her flood-gates to the rushing stream 3 
Which onward thence to Ceylon and Japan, 
And southward into Asia's utmost bound, 
Degenerating, desolating rolled. 

The northern race of Japhet, prone, alas : 
To grovel in the dust, ere long deprived 
The Deity of his perfections all, 
And worshipp'd mostly as three bounded gods, 
Themselves the offspring of the earth they ruled. 
And Britain, haply by the sons of Tyre 
There colonizing in an early age, 
The Canaanitish and Phoenician gods 
Received 5 which, by the people first adored, 
Then by the Druid bands ostensibly, 

* The death-bed prophecy of Confucius was, " In the West 
the Holy One shall appear," and his disciples, mistaking his mean- 
ing, began soon after to worship Brahma and the gods of Hindostan. 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 135 

At length admittance to their forests gain'd 5 
And shared the sanguinary feast of blood. 

'Twas blackness all 3 the firmament appeared 
As though the stars had closed their watchful eyes, 
Leaving the mad> mad rebels to their fate ; 
The demon of despair overshadowed it 
With his dark wings ; and, in uncertainty 
Man roved, possessing neither God nor hope. 
But see ! a day-star in the East appears ! 
The voice of one cries in the wilderness 
<e Prepare the way ! make in the desert straight 
A highway for our God V A glimmering light, 
Fringing with gold the' horizon's mourning weeds. 
Tells the approaching dawn 3 and now the Sun 
Of Righteousness ascends the vault of heaven : 
His beams of revelation flings abroad 5 
And with the dappled mists that twine around 
Mount Calvary's summit, characters the words 
" Immortal life \" 

Oh ! brilliant, dazzling orb ! 
How fair thy light ! thy renovating rays 
How genial ! the putrid air grows pure ! 
The earth, made sterile by the curse, brings forth 
Such flowers as send a rich perfume to heaven^ 
And ripens fruits as offerings to God ; 
And, by thy kindly influence, e'en the dead 
Feel warmth and vigour to their frames restored., 
And start to action with their grave-clothes on. 



136 THE DEITY. [PART I?. 

Wast thou not welcomed then, thou lovely beam ! 
At thy first peep above the darksome glebe ? 
Was not each voice of man attuned to sing 
Thy praise ? did not each chord of music raise 
Its notes to Thee ? did not the smiling fields 
Send incense forth to greet Thy fair approach ? 
And the glad heaven prepare a gorgeous robe 
Of gold and crimson to array Thee in ? 
Go ask the morning when he rose. No voice 
Of man was heard; no instrument of sound 
Tun'd a fond welcome with its swelling notes, 
Save w T here the angels touch'd their silver lyres : 
The fields, enveloped in thick mists, knew not 
His coming, nor one-half His glories knew : 
A cloud, indeed, the firmament prepared, 
But 'twas of sable, for His cradle-bed, 
Which served His rising beauties to enshroud ; 
And the bright edge of glory, which He gave 
Its long dark Gurtains, ere His rising hour, 
Was dyed in blackness ; in deep Lethe dyed. 
Where was Thy welcome then ? Ah ! where, indeed ! 
All seem'd as though conspiring 'gainst His reign, 
And mists, and vapours, and foul meteors joined, 
Resolved to hide His kindling beams from earth. 
Rise, then ! ye mighty winds ! to conflict rise ! 
Wake, northern blasts ! ye southern breezes blow ! 
Disperse His foes ; and> 'mid the general rout 
Bursting asunder their compacted bands, 



BOOK V.J THE DEITY. 137 

Roll, in your mad contention, the big clouds 

Against each other in the fields of air. 

But they are chasing one another round 

Some distant rock, or in the cave of sleep, 

Fanning the moisture from his slothful brow ; 

Nor heed his fast collecting hosts of foes. 

And must Thou be for ever hid, Thou lamp 

Of uncreated glory ! No, He^holds 

His course in confidence 5 and, gathering strength. 

Breaks boldly through the thick embodied ranks. 

Dispelling them in His resistless might, 

And fills the firmament with vivid blaze. 

Immortal life ! the gospel-trumpet sound 
Sends the glad tidings forth. Immortal life ! 
Man, from the dust arise \ thy native worth 
Assert, and to thy kindred heaven aspire. 
Ye, who in darkness dwell and shades of death. 
Arise to glory ! light and life are yours, 
A Ransom's found ; your long lost heritage 
Restored, re-purchased by Incarnate God 5 
Who, to His creatures thus again made known. 
Peace to returning rebels loud proclaims, 
Joy purchased by His suffering, life through death 

Arm of Messiah ! graciously stretch' d forth 
With kind assistance to the race remote 
Of distant nations,- — meteor, full of strength ! 
Shot from the disk of heaven's most brilliant orb, 
Whose w r and'ring light illum'd such numerous spheres, 



138 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Apostle of the Gentiles ! who like Thee 

The glorious news to bear ? unresting One, 

No eye e'er saw Thee sleeping on Thy clouds ; 

Or saw, though thickest vapours closed Thee round, 

Thy light extinguish'd, or its rays turn dim. 

And when at length the power that held Thee there 

Dropt Thee to earth, Thou kindledst up a flame 

Which ne'er shall be extinguish'd, though all worlds 

To chaos rush, or matter waste away. 

By him and others carried forth with joy, 
The glorious gospel of the' Anointed One 
Is widely spread $ and the great God of Heaven, 
To Adam's wandering sons again declared. 
But as it was upon the earth, ere yet 
The smiling morn of revelation dawn'd — 
Her fallen lords, blind, and yet, being blind, 
Unconscious of their blindness, raised aloft 
The arms of their rebellion 'gainst that King 
Of whom they held their tributary realm, 
Conceiving it their own inheritance, 
And, loving darkness, but still deeper piung'd 
In the thick mists that veil'd Him from their view — 
So it, alas ! remains, though God reveal'd 
Has left them still more inexcusable 4, 

Than when His muffled voice, as sometimes heard 
In the firm edicts of stern conscience, form'd 
Their sole condemning law. They still deny 
The being of that Power supreme, who gave 



EOOK V.] THE DEITY. 139 

Their short existence 5 or deny His right 

To force upon them constitutive laws, 

By which to govern what he lent them here 5 

And deftly fashion for themselves a God 

More suited to their views and wild desires 3 

Pure, and yet winking at impurity, 

Just, yet not punishing the culprit's sin ; 

iVnd, nor abstracted from material things. 

Nor ever interfering with His works, 

But leaving all to wander as they list 5 

Or else, united by a closer tie 

To objects seen, the very soul of all. 

But more than all the rest, whatever else 

Of truth they hold in scorn, they proudly loathe 

The glorious doctrine of a Three in One. 

These specious Godhead manufacturers, 
Who laugh at Trinity in Unity. 
And scorn the revelation sent from heaven, 
As but the tale of twelve crazed fishermen, 
Who with their ravings made the world turn mad, 
Be ours, oh Muse ! to combat, as ere while 
We tugg'd with Atheists for the prize of war. 
But ere this close, this grappling task be thine, 
Again I'll set thee free ; soar, then, away 
Through heights ethereal ! to Jehovah's throne 
Soar 3 and thence, gaining treble strength, return 
To battle with his vaunting earthly foes. 

Ineffable Elohim ! yet again 



140 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Would my enraptur'd spirit leave behind 

All meaner objects, fling itself upon 

Ethereal tides, and rise through floods of light 

To Thee, its source ; for Thy enrapturing praise 

Expands the heart -, and touches every string 

Of pure unearthly joy. But, oh, my God ! 

How shall I praise Thee ? Were my feeble voice 

Mute, or its accents only waked to curse 

Thy hallowed name, and breathe forth blasphemies, 

W T ould it decrease thy glory ? or should'st Thou 

Be the less happy ? No, 'tis I alone 

Should feel the change ; 'tis I alone can gain J 

True joy by meditating, Lord, on Thee 5 

Or glory gain by seeking to unite 

My humble name with Thine. No, Godhead else 

Were changed, and since creation happier, 

More glorious than before. But, though each sun 

Of every system tunes a grateful lay, 

And every system the glad chorus joins, 

Though every individual thing that dwells 

Within the region of each spacious world 

Unites with other, and, in sweet accord, 

Upsends an universal hymn of praise — 

To Thee, as God, it is no more than though 

Each voice were dumb, and Nature sunk to nought -, 

Or Thou hadst been less perfect ere their birth, 

And every finite thing were part of Thee. 

How shall I praise Thee, then? Blest Trinity ! 



BOOK V.] THE DEITY. 14"] 

How raise a strain so sweet that it shall find 

Acceptance in thine ear ? since Nature's voice 

(If greater things with less ye may compare) 

Is but as music to the soul entranc'd 

By some swift sudden headlong rush of joy, 

Though pleasing, yet unable to excite 

A new emotion ! Oh ! there is a way 

In which the gently bursting sigh, the tear 

Of penitence that down the pale cheek flows, 

The eye upturn'd in faith to Heav'n, the song, 

Though inharmonious, from the heart breath'd forth 

The jarring discords of unlettered minds, 

The prayer that scarce the portals of the lips 

Passes, articulation's powers too weak 

To bear its burden from life's citadel, 

— All can acceptance find, all increase give. 

For in Thy Christhood, Thy Messiahship, 

Each soul of man which Thou hast snatch'd from death 

Is as a jewel in Thy diadem, 

Or as a living member of Thy frame : 

And every prayer, and every song of praise, 

Rises like incense to Thy throne on high : 

While, rife with being, Thou, Eternal Word ! 

Who spak'st it out of nothing to pourtray 

The Deity in grosser form, dost urge 

Through matter thine assimilating way -, 

'Till all things shall be gather'd into one — 

One fold, one shepherd, one great All in All. 



142 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Thee, then, Messiah ! Thee I'll sing; Thou God 
And Head of all creation. Lofty King, 
In whom the full rays of the Trinity 
(As here its attributes are modified 
And manifested in an outward way) 
Concentrate 3 doer of the Father's will, 
Gracious Out-pourer of the Holy Ghost, 
And Revelation of the perfect God. 
For, singing Thee, all Deity I sing ; 
Whilst Thou art man's great representative, 
His blest Redeemer, his unfailing Friend ; 
In the full ocean of whose poured-out blood, 
The soul firm anchorage finds, though beat the storms 
Of life upon it in their fury wild. 

Him, Nature, own thy God 3 to Him send forth 
The incense of thy praise 3 and praise through Him 
The glorious Trinity. Praise Him, ye suns 
That, on your axes central whirling, keep 
Your subject worlds in awe, and shed, like Him, 
A lustre on your spheres, (but His how wide!) 
With light and heat irradiating all. 
Praise Him, ye comets, that eccentric shoot 
Along the field of space 3 and planets, ye 
That roll around your central stars, with song 
As constant as your motion, tell His praise. 
Praise Him, ye lofty mountains, that first cat ch 
His golden stream, who from the sun sends forth 
The genial ray, that covers your bare heads 



ROOK V.] THE DEITY. 143 

With verdure 5 and, ye vallies, rich with fruits 

And flowers of varied die, his praise resound. 

Praise Him, ye winds, that through the airy tides 

Keep constant watch, commingling as ye fly, 

Now loud as when an angry lion roars, 

Now softly as a lover's breathing sigh, 

Praise Him. Praise Him, ye denser tides, that once 

Wrapp'd up the earth as in a winding-sheet, 

And now around her fling your fondling arms. 

Waters : — thou ocean, first uplift thy voice 5 

Thine is the loudest note, rear up thy waves, 

And with their swellings thunder forth His praise $ 

Ye rivers, next, — and last, ye gliding rills, 

Brooklets, that through the vales meandering flow, 

Or lave a pebbly channel in your course, 

With every murmur bubble forth His praise. 

Praise Him, ye exhalations, as ye rise 

To kiss the air 5 let Him your love-song be. 

And as, entwining, on ye move, entwine 

A wreath of sacred numbers to His name. 

Praise Him, all animated things : His praise 

Beasts of the forest, howl aloud 5 His praise, 

Ye insect tribes, that in the sunny ray 

Sport joyfully, hum ye with ceaseless sound. 

Ye feather'd songsters, let the woodlands ring 

With the inspiring lay 5 and ye who know 

His glory best, angels, who day and night 

Serve in His courts, with ready wings outstretch'd 



J 44 THE DEITY. [PART II 

To do His will, and, man, for whom He died, 
Praise Him in more exalted strains ; praise Him, 
Jehovah Jesus, the Anointed, praise, 
With all vour tongues, and hail Him Lord of all ! 



END OF THE FIFTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY 



BOOK VI. 



ARGUMENT. 

Address to Light. — Rhapsody. — The Attributes of God generally 
considered. — Particular consideration of Power. — The proof 
it affords of the Trinity. — Knowledge. — The Evidence it fur- 
nishes. — The whole strictly moral Attributes of Deity. The 
Evidence they furnish particularly exemplified by Love. — 
Apostrophe to Divine Love. 



BOOK VI. 



Fairest and first of things ! celestial light! 
Veil of the Uncreated Majesty, 

Through which the' highest Archangel cannot pierce,. - 
As once a Milton wooed thine influence, 
With such a song, as might have drawn Thee down 
From the Empyrean, I would woo thee now ; 
Though I am blest with eyes whose orbs roll not 
Like His, in dim eclipse. Sweet visitant, 
That through the open'd curtains of the east 
Dost daily greet us with benignant smiles, 
When upward springs the sun in giant strength, 
And from his golden tresses shakes the dews, 
While the glad sky-lark welcomes thy return, 
And nature wakens from her midnight dreams, — 

h <2 



148 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

I love thee 5 though thou dost but call me forth 
To wonted scenes of toil ; and kindlier night 
Doth oft spread over me her star-gemnVd wings, 
When my rapt thoughts in pleasing visions rove, 
Forgetful of the earth and all its cares. 
But loveliness attracts the heart of man 
E'en more than kindness 5 and thy cheering smiles 
Are sweet, since thou art fair, and dost impart 
A zest to all my pleasures. 

Come ! dear stream, 
Dear ever to my soul, whether I gaze 
Upon thy early dawn, or trace the streaks 
Thou leavest on the vest of grey-ey'd eve, 
Till all their vermil tints at length are gone, 
Or view thee, tiowing from the paler moon 
In purer whiteness on the prostrate world, 
That seems as wrapt in Winter's robe of snow, 
Or watch thee bursting from thy still retreat 
In the deep caverns of the frozen pole, 
And o'er Night's regions spreading far and wide 
As swift and sudden as an outlaw band 5 
Or whether from confinement sometimes freed 
Beneath thy brighter beams I feast my eyes 
On Nature's beauteous scenes, — not the less dear 
Because so seldom seen, but to my heart 
For that more welcome, like an absent bride. 

Much, much I hold from thee, O light ! yet now 
Would woo thee for a richer, brighter beam, 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 149 

Than from the source of our terrestrial day 

Ere issued yet, since first in heaven He rais'd 

His flaming crest, and bade His worlds move on. 

Tis thine internal strength I seek ; a ray 

Of thine empyreal glory. Come then ! pure, 

As now thou dwelFst before the throne on high, 

And strong and powerful as of late thou wast, 

When first I met thee on my lonely walk, 

While pensively I wander'd, in the search 

Of God and everlasting happiness. 

So pure, so powerful, oh ! celestial light 

Descend ! for mine's a heavy task 5 and needs 

Much of thine influence. Illuminate 

My mental powers, till reason's lost in thee, 

(Like Lucifer, when day's full brilliance shines,) 

And to my soul the Deity reveal, 

As thou encirclest Him with living floods, 

That Him to man I thus may joyful sing. 

Wake harp of rhapsody ! Immortal harp ! 
Tides of enthusiastic feelings rise ! 
And with your swellings lift my soul to heaven, 
Till every mental faculty be lost 
In the bright vision of the Increate ! 
The Deity ! the Deity I sing, 
As He exists in His primeval fulness, 
And ere creation into being sprang 
Existed, everlasting Source of all ! 
Hosanna ! in His majesty supreme 



150 THE DEITY. [PAKT II. 

The great Jehovah bursts upon my view! 

The torrent of enthusiastic passion 

Sweeps in its course the darken'd stars aside. 

That from new regions, the aspiring muse 

May turn her clearer, unobstructed gaze 

On Him. Oh ! glory unapproachable ! 

Oh, rich effulgent glory ! Hide your heads 

Suns of immortal splendour ! hide your heads 

Orion! Mazzaroth ! Arctums, hide 

In night ! and ye remaining Pleiades 

(Whose sister by the blast of desolation 

Is swept away, or by the' Eternal's hand 

Transplanted from her distant station there, 

To shine a brighter spanglet near His throne,) 

Hide your diminish'd heads ! your golden locks 

Are shorn ! the glory of the Infinite 

Eclipses all your beams ! Bask ! bask, my soul, 

In His resplendence! while the flood of light 

Pours on thee ! And, immers'd in brilliance, now 

Quaff, quaff the fulness of the vision in, 

Till thou art fuTd with Him ; and all thy powers 

Absorb'd in thine immeasurable theme ! 

But whither wouldst thou wander, unrestrain'd, 
Celestial muse, as some long captiv'd bird, 
When from its grated dungeon first released, 
Exulting in the new awaken'd strength 
Of freedom, rushes onward with the gale ; 
Or soars in rapture towards the " eye of heaven ?" 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 151 

In vain the GEolian lyre of rhapsody 
Invites thy touch 5 the changing tides of air 
That now soft breathing, now with billowy sweep, 
Rush o'er its strings, may, with romantic notes 
Beguile the ear, and fill the heart with joy. 
But thine's a nobler, though less pleasing, task. 
In the full strength of long enduring truth, j 
'Tis thine to wake the harp's exalted strains,, 
And sing the wonders of the Deity ! 

Yet who can sing Him truly ? when the swell 
Of wild enthusiasm comes o'er the soul, 
In the delirium of poetic feeling 
We then can look on the Ineffable, 
And vent in song the substance of our dreams. 
But who, if Truth must point the way, can pierce 
The' involving clouds of black impervious night 
That thickly curtain his pavilion round 
Who " holdeth back the face of His bright throne " 
From mortal vision ? or, if these %vere pierc'd, 
Could gaze upon the' insufferable splendour 
Which then would burst upon his failing eyes ? 
One momentary glance, and all were fair, 
All bright, all glorious ; but his dazzled orbs 
Would shrink before the uncreated blaze ; 
And deepest, thickest blackness must succeed. 
Still has presumptuous man oft dar'd the sie;ht : 
And, when his blinded eyes could see no more 
Of glory, has declar'd no glory there ; 



152 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

And humbler Reason, now through nature's glass, 
Would turn its eyes upon the' Eternal One 
And seek to catch one faint, one twinkling ray 
From the full splendours of His countenance ; 
To sing what man's weak powers of Him can sing, 
In confutation of His boasting foes. 

Atheists have told us that the attributes 
Of God will prove His being but a dream ; 
(Like Chaos teeming with intestine jars,) 
And, startling as the declaration seems, 
So as perchance to make some minds recoil. 
As though in one dread strain of blasphemy 
All hell had breath'd its direst numbers forth, 
It is indeed so with the Deist's god ; 
Whose active, energetic attributes, 
Enshackled, never could be exercis'd 
According to their nature ; but confin'd 
Within a limit, though unlimited, 
Must burst their barriers, like imprison'd air 5 
And fill infinitude with wild confusion. 
But while this pride-begotten deity, 
Brought forth by sceptics' overweening brains.. 
Thus truly slays and swallows up itself, 
The God they in their wisdom have despis'd. 
The God by revelation brought to light, 
Essential to the life of nature is 5 
And in His self-subsistence firmly rests. 
For Trinity in Unity resolves 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY 

To harmony, whatever seems to jar ; 
And opens, for His boundless attributes, 
A mode of full and perfect exercise. 

The Being that by pure necessity 
Exists, ungenerated, underived, 
Must needs be absolutely infinite. 
For that necessity by which He lives, 
In one point of eternity and space, 
Cleaves to the rest with unabated force; 
And He, who is eternal and immense, 
Nay, constitutes eternity and space. 
Must be, of consequence, immutable 5 
As filling all, He leaves no room for change : 
Nor could He change without some acting cause 3 
And there's no cause superior to Himself. 
Unbounded, then, of strict necessity, 
As all perfections must from Him evolve, 
Whose power brought all contingent beings forth, 
They must, as they inhere in Him their source, 
In strict accordance with His nature, be 
Immense, eternal, and immutable. 
'Tis true there are, what man has ofttimes classed 
Among his attributes, which are not so 5 
Yet these, if well consider'd, are but modes 
In which those attributes are exercised 
In His volitions towards created things, 
As purity, since Nature's birth, has flow'd 
From its great fountain in translucent streams 

h 5 



154 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Of justice, equity, and rectitude ; 

And goodness, full, eternal, infinite, 

Has, since the desolating blasts of Sin 

Have wither' d all creation's fairest flowers, 

Branched forth in mercy, grace, benevolence, 

And long enduring patience 5 bearing all 

Those precious fruits that ease the pangs of woe, 

And stop the course of everlasting death. 

First, then, by some essential attributes, 

Selected as examples for the rest ; 

Next by a few inductive reasonings, 

Drawn from the social faculties of man ; 

Then by the necessary happiness 

And full perfection of the Infinite ; 

And, lastly, by creation, providence, 

And those relations which must needs exist 

'Twixt the Creator and created things, 

Strive we, with all the skill that He bestows, 

Direct, or by the agency of man, 

To prove there is a trinity in God. 

Alpha and Omega ! Incarnate Word ! 
In whom all wisdom doth embodied dwell, 
Lend Thou thine inspiration ! touch my lip 
With coals of living lire ! send forth a flame 
From that bright sphere of being where Thou d well's t 
In uncreated day! I can do nought 
Without Thee ; and, unless I hoped Thy aid, 
My pen would drop from out my powerless hand, 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 155 

My harp-strings break beneath the weighty strain. 

Yea, but for thought that Thou wilt own and bless 

This weak attempt to glorify Thy name, 

hi this dark age of infidelity, — 

Long since had this unfinish'd lay been cast 

In hopelessness away. But Thou, dear Lord ! 

Didst kindly promise, when abiding here, 

Thy aid to all that ask : and I have prov'd 

Thy faithfulness to Thy recorded word ; 

Which gives me boldness of access to Thee, 

To whom the Muse now dedicates her powers. 

Few, who admit there is a Deity,* 
Will question His omnipotence. The name 



* I am aware that various objections may be brought against 
the trains of reasoning in the succeeding part of this book, and 
in some little portion of the next. Two only I think worthy of 
anticipation. First, some true christians, of very tender con- 
science, may urge that it is an attempt " by searching, to find out 
God ;" this, I answer, is a mistaken idea, as it is only an attempt 
to display, in another light, a fact which is clearly revealed, and 
thereby shew that the truths of Revelation are not incompatible 
with Reason. The other objection is that of more argumentative 
minds ; that, as these reasonings are only analogical, they cannot, 
as offensive arguments, be deemed conclusive. To this I reply 
they are not offensive, but defensive ones. I should not have at- 
tempted, in the same manner, to prove an entirely new proposition. 
But as analogical arguments are all that can be brought against us, 
my efforts here have been directed towards shewing that analogy, 
if rightly traced, is in our favour ; and proves (if it prove any 
thing) the leading truths of our religion. 



J 56' THE DEITY- [PART II. 

Almighty is so closely joined with His, 

That he who, in defiance of His word, 

Delights to take that awful name in vain, 

Will commonly, e'en with the very breath 

With which he braves, assert His boundless power. 

As wantonly the accents pass his lips, 

(How often !) " God Almighty !" And He must 

Possess all power that is or e'er can be : 

For all that is or possibly can be, 

Must, primarily, be derived from Him, 

Who gave existence to all finite things, 

As time is from Eternity derived ; 

And rivers are from their supplying springs. 

All things we know of that are exercised 
At all, where'er the errant mind of man 
Has bent its wayward search, are exercis'd 
According to their nature. Reasoning, then, 
By fair analogy, from things we know, 
To what our whole conceptions cannot grasp, 
The inference, to say the least, is just 
That 'tis so with the attributes of God, 
Whose outward acts are, each in its degree, 
A revelation of His glorious self. 

Activity and energy are found 
In power.* The share created things possess 

* More appears to be assumed in this line of argument than 
in those immediately succeeding; for many, who will readily 



BOOK VI*] THE DEITY, 157 

Is finite, and, in bounded operation, 

Must spend its efforts 5 but the' inherent power 

Of Deity demands a vaster flow 

Than all this fair creation can contain„ 

Immense, eternal, and immutable, 

It needs must find unbounded exercise, 

Or cannot else be exercis'd at all 

Accordant with its nature ; and, if not, 

(As that is useless which can ne'er be used) 

Then its immensity, eternity, 

And consequent immutability, 

Are but unnecessary properties ; 

And God had done as well with finite power 

admit that God must be infinite in knowledge, and, therefore 
fully know himself; and that, as love exists but in exercise, in- 
finite love must infinitely operate ; cannot so well conceive why 
infinite power should demand unbounded exercise. If, however, 
infinite power must, of necessity, lie dormant, as far as re- 
gards its infinitude, it is not so properly power as potentiality. 
All the volitions of finite existences consist of potentiality, and 
act ; but this results from imperfection. We are the creatures of 
excitement, and our faculties lie dormant till some excitement 
rouses them into action; but this excitement cannot properly 
apply to the Divine Being. In tracing analogies from finite to 
Infinite, it is needful to abstract our thoughts from the imperfec- 
tions consequent upon Time, Sense, and Finitude, in such a de- 
gree as to carry forward in the mental eye the perfection of the 
thing alone. The perfection of power undoubtedly must be 
exercise ; and when the mind is thus abstracted, it will not easily 
conceive of an infinite attribute, which is essentially active and 
energetic, never being fully exercised* 



158 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

As infinite • whereas, whate'er inheres 

In that which of necessity exists, 

Is necessary too. Involving thus 

A contradiction, the huge fabric built 

On this position on its builders falls, 

And buries them beneath its spreading ruins . 

For all that rests upon absurdities, 

However tall the argument may be, 

Though it o'ertop the clouds, peep 'twixt the stars. 

Reach out its hand to track the comet's flight, 

Or gaze upon the lofty mount of God, 

Must, from the high position of its pride 

Sink down in bottomless immensity ; 

E'en as a building founded upon ice 

Would sink beneath the water's yielding breast 

When summer in its latent fervour glowM. 

If then (assuming the reverse) the power 

Of God has ever thus been exercised, 

As power unbounded could not operate 

To all its full extent in bringing forth 

From utter nothingness all finite things 

Nor by procession could all finite things 

An infinite perfection e'er receive, — 

'Tis manifest it either must have been, 

In constituting by creative act, 

A wonderful subsistence, like Himself, 

Immense, eternal, and immutable — 

(A palpable impossibility, 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY, 

Since that which is created must begin, 

At once overthrowing its eternity,) 

In generating, or, in other words, 

Communicating being, co-immense, 

And co-eternal, and immutable, 

To some subsistence from itself distinct — - 

(And no plurality of gods can be. 

As two immensities could ne'er exist, 

Or two eternities, — nor could their acts 

In outward modes be different or the sarae ; 

For, if the same, the act would be but one. 

Thus proving their essential unity,— 

If different, both could not be infinite, 

Or consequent immutability 

Had caused them both to operate alike,) 

Or, generating in the self-same way, 

Another person or hypostasis 

In his own Essence, Sonship increate ! 

Co-equal, co-essential, co-immense, 

And co-eternal, and immutable, 

The very express image of Himself, 

As words are the reflection of our thoughts, 

According to the glorious doctrine taught 

In that we hold to be His written word. 

Again : if power did not thus operate 

Within the Self-existent One Himself, 

Both in communication and procession,— 

As no plurality of gods can be, 



160 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

It was, before creation, quite inert 

Yet how could this be ? 'tis immutable 5 

And its activity and energy 

Must needs be as eternal as itself, 

Demanding an eternal exercise. 

And let the sceptic place the date of things 

Never so early, it is still the same ; 

For whether they were form'd but yesterday, 

Or whether their revolving years reach up 

As high as human computation goes, 

There still remains the same dread vast beyond, 

Eternity ! Eternity ! whose bound 

Is but a mere ideal one, that, like 

The' apparent archway of the firmament. 

Ever receding from the traveller's view, 

Seems always near, yet cannot be approachd. 

This, then, may we infer j if Deity- 
Be, of necessity, omnipotent, 
And energy's a property of power, 
(Of which two ever plain displays are found 
In his creation and his providence,) 
He must exist in personality, 
Each mode not separate but quite distinct ; 
For from the first hypostasis, when on 
The active, energetic attributes 
Inherent in the Self-subsistent One, 
Have to the second flow'd, they must remain 
Active and energetic still, and still 



«OOK VI.] THE DEITY. 161 

Flow on, till at perfection they arrive, 

Which in another person will be found. 

Proceeding equally from each and both, 

In one joint active principle* but these 

Unites, yet in itself remains distinct ; 

Presenting to the enquiring mind of man 

A Godhead Trinity in Unity. 

For, in distinctness, joined with union, 

(Since nought besides can grasp its every mode,) 

The true perfection of existence rests. 
Omniscience, haply, next Omnipotence 

Is least disputed of the attributes 

Of God. For He in whom immensity, 

Eternity, inheres, must surely know 

Whatever is, whatever has been known, 

Whatever can be ; and that monitor, 

Who stubbornly within the human heart 

Sits on his Heaven-built throne, and thence, despite 

Rebellions frequent, sends his edicts forth, 

Unterrified, unshaken, absolute,— 

Proclaims it in a voice inaudible 

To all, save those to whom it is address'd,, 

To them more deafening than the thunder's note : 

Yes, Conscience, who amongst his subjects dwells 

Unguarded, though much hated by the bad, 

On whom he passes open sentence oft, 

While virtue He rewards with favouring smiles $ 

That king, on whom Time's innovating hand 



162 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Has left no marks of conquest, though, perchance, 

That modern foe, ' the march of intellect/ 

Which plays such pranks 'mongst earthly potentates, 

If it hold on but some few lustrums more, 

May force concessions from his majesty, 

And make his sovereignty a bounded one — 

Declares the' Omniscience of the Deity 5 

— While providences, wonderful and strange, 

Confirm in full the evidence he gives, 

And to his testimony set the seal 

Of wisdom. What disarms the ruffian's hand 

Who seeks another's life, when not a form 

Has met his gaze, except the spectral things 

That flit across the* horizon of his mind 5 

And not a sound has smote upon his ear, 

Save the wind rustling through the leafy wood, 

That seems as come to witness his dark deeds, 

And babble them abroad, and makes his flesh 

Creep on his bones, and his hair bristle up 

With horror ? What doth oft the virgin shield 

(Else unprotected,) from seduction's wiles, 

When fondly on a villain's arm she leans, 

As 't would support her, (though a broken reed,) 

And, wrapt in the delirious dream of love, 

On her more potent than Circean charms, 

She gilds, with the bright sun-light of her mind, 

Those scenes which else were dark as Erebus ? 

What gives the humble penitent such peace, 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 163 

Ere yet the Spirit of the Lord has breath'd 
His sweetest peace upon him, peace, that's like 
The first faint glimmer of the rising morn, 
An earnest of the day ; while pearly tears 
Upon the cheeks as sparkling dew-drops hang ? 
What most endues the tempted one with strength. 
When on him, like a flood, the dread foe comes 
Overwhelming ? What within his heart uplifts 
A barrier 'gainst his rage ? What fills the breast 
Of virtue with such fortitude, beneath 
The strokes of life's innumerable ills ? 
Oh ! 'tis the thought of an all-seeing Power, 
Who knows all outward acts, all hearts' intents ; 
And, judging righteous judgment, will reward 
To every man according to his deeds. 
As next allowed then of His attributes, 
Next, by Omniscience, w T ill we seek to prove 
The tri-une nature of the Deity. 

All finite knowledge, various though its kinds, 
And borne by various channels to the soul, 
From two great sources primarily flows, 
Consciousness and perception — save we name 
Some principles intuitive, by God 
Implanted there, enabling to discern 
'Twixt strictly moral good and moral ill — 
Or, as with far less reason some suppose, 
Innate ideas, that distinguish well 
Between such things as no resemblance bear, 



164 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

And point out palpable absurdities. 

Had any one of all the human race 
Been from the earliest moment of his life 
In the reality of solitude, 
The only thing existent in all space, 
'T would be as utterly impossible 
For him to have ideas of himself 
Correct in any measure, as 'twould be 
To know his outward features, when his eyes 
Had ne'er seen their reflection. Consciousness 
Must by perception first be acted on, 
To generate intelligence 5 for thought 
Is a begotten child, and does not come, 
As some suppose, by spontaneity ; 
And all our knowledge is but fruit that springs 
From thought in operation. Man must see 
Some image of himself to know himself ; 
For outward things must work upon the sense, 
To wake from sleep the powers of consciousness \ 
And small our share of intellect would be, 
If of perception we were wholly reft. 
We should not know that we had power to move. 
Ere yet we tried to exercise that power, 
And by the trial could perceive 'twas so, — 
Unless we first saw others move, or learn'd 
From others we possess'd it : nor should seek 
To exercise volition, save we thought 
That we could find sufficiency of space ; 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 165 

Which thought must doubtless from perception rise, 
Whate'er the channel that to us convey'd it. 

Bear then the' analogy to Deity, 
Who, if He be Omniscient, if, indeed, 
Immense, eternal, and immutable, 
His knowledge is, must surely know himself; 
Compared with which, all else is as a drop 
To the wide ocean 3 or a grain of sand 
To this terraqueous globe. If God possess 
This true self-knowledge, He possesses it 
By somewhat we should toil in vain to grasp, 
Which answers w r ell to both our springs of thought, 
For though His consciousness is of itself 
Immense, eternal, and immutable, 
'Tis not perception still ; devoid of which 
He could not know, so perfectly as man, 
Himself. 

But let no deist, now my hand 
Would strip his idol of its stolen robes, 
Start with a shew of horror 5 and declare 
I would rob God of knowledge. I affirm 
That God must have all knowledge ; and by this, 
Held as an axiom, now attempt to prove 
His manner of existence ; while to him 
Who tells me there may haply be some way 
Within the Deity itself, by which 
He may that full and perfect knowledge hold, — 
I answer, that is e'en the very point 



166 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

For which I now contend -, the point for which, 

To the despisers of the Trinity — 

Which shewing him an image of himself, 

An image though in union, yet distinct, 

Both by perception and by consciousness, 

To God that full and perfect knowledge gives — 

I hurl the sword of stern defiance down. 

But yet again : our powers and faculties 
(Though by perception we may judge of them, 
And by perception join'd with consciousness 
May rightly judge,) can but be surely known 
By operation. Seeing others move, 
And knowing we were form'd alike to them, 
Our own volition might substantiate : 
But nothing like a trial could convice, 
Or certify the firm hypothesis. 
If then the' Eternal Monad did before 
Creation rest inert, he did not know 
Before so perfectly as now He does, 
His own inherent full efficiency — 
Thus is His knowledge not immutable — 
If now He can possess no way in which 
His attributes, in all their full extent, 
Can operate, — it cannot be immense — 
And if He had not such a way, in which 
They could, accordant with their nature, flow 
Without beginning as His being is, 
Then is it not eternal ; — and deny 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 167 

These three, Omniscience is an empty term, 
A word without a meaning. Yet 'tis plain, 
Excepting God exist in modes distinct, 
This flowing forth of all his attributes, 
In all their native fulness, could not be. 

We might, with reasonings similar to these, 
By each one of his attributes, thus prove 
The Trinity of Godhead 3 but the ear 
Would, from the consequent monotony, 
Turn wearied 5 and the unpoetic task 
Of stooping thus to abstract argument, 
Already cramps the Muse's wings, who longs 
For wilder, bolder flights. Suffice it then, 
By one abstractly moral attribute, 
To make example for the rest. 

If God 
Be infinite in knowledge, and in power 
As infinite, then doubtless He must know 
All consequences and relations too $ 
And therefore must be infinitely wise : 
If He be infinitely wise, He must 
Be also infinitely good and pure : 
And if thus infinitely good and pure, 
He must be also infinite in love : 
And thus in goodness, purity, and love. 
We may behold the triple trunk, from which 
All that are term'd his moral attributes 
Branch forth. Love then from these will we select, 



168 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

To prove again the doctrine we assert : 

And should there be a man who thinks that love 

Is not essential to the Deity, 

Let him but change the term, the argument 

Will hold with "goodness" unabated force. 
To speak of love without an object lov'd 

Were most incongruous, the principle 

Is ever energetic, and must flow 

Coeval with its being. If then love 

Be an essential attribute of God, 

It must be infinitely exercis'd, 

Or never can be exercis'd at all 

Accordant with its nature $ which 'tis plain 

(Since it exists in exercise alone,) 

Involves a contradiction. If before 
Creation it did operate at all, 

(As nothing finite was in being then, 

And in our arguments on power we prov'd 

That no plurality of Gods could be,) 

It must have operated in some way 

Within the Deity, which could not be, 

Excepting he in personality 

Existed. If it did not operate 

Before creation, its eternity 

At once is lost, and it must follow too 

(Since it existeth but in exercise,) 

That God is chang'd -, for love as it inheres 

In Him, its source, is a contingent thing: 



BOOK VI.] THE DEITY. 169 

From which position but advance one step, 
And His existence is at once denied. 
Again ; as all created things but bear 
A small proportion to infinitude, 
Nay, no proportion, for infinitude 
Is indivisible, if there is nought 
Besides creation now, on which the love 
Of God can operate, it cannot be 
Immensely operative. This involves 
Another contradiction 3 as it is 
In being and extent unlimited 5 
And its existence and its exercise 
Are synchronous, if not synonymous. 

To this conclusion, therefore, must we come, 
If love's an attribute of Deity, 
(And God is love !) and His perfections are 
Immense, eternal, and immutable, 
(And, as existing by necessity. 
They very evidently must be so,) 
He must exist in personality: 
That love, within the Essence increate, 
May flow in one immense, eternal stream. 
And as He must exist in Unity 
As well as in distinctness, these His modes 
Must be conhn'd to three ; the third of which 
The other two conjoins 5 and shews blind man, 
What Revelation's sacred page declares. 
A Godhead Trinity-in-Unity. 



370 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Here, then, didst thou arise, oh love divine ! 
Boundless, immense, immeasurable love ! 
Without beginning ! with eternity 
Coeval ! here the first link of thy chain 
Is rivetted ; the interminable chain, 
Whose length with all duration shall increase. 
Here springs the flood that through immensity, 
Eternity, rolls on ! involving all! 
Involving me — who once denied His name, 
And scorned His high salvation. Here didst thou 
Arise ; here from the Father's bosom flow 
On to the Son 5 from Him to Nature. Here 
Didst thou arise, with Him that never rose 5 
Where shalt thou end ? ah, where ! with Him that ne'er 
Will end, the Sire of Immortality. 
Unfathomable ocean ! love of God ! 
Saving, enduring, purifying love ! 
Thee who can fully sing? — short rhapsodies, 
Break from the heart, like sudden bursts of wind 
On summer evenings ; from the heart, whose big 
Expansive swellings seek in vain to burst 
In accents forth j short, short indeed 5 for oh ! 
Musing on Thee, the stammering tongue turns mute ; 
And Silence speaks Thy boundlessness, beyond 
The reach of words, beyond the reach of thought. 

END OF THE SIXTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY. 



BOOK VII. 



i2 



ARGUMENT. 



Man the image of God. — The Trinity of the Divine Essence 
asserted by the social faculties of man, and by His own Per- 
fection and Happiness. 



BOOK VII. 



That man was in the image of his God 
Form'd primarily, close as finite things 
Can bear resemblance to the Infinite, 
But few philosophers have yet denied, 
Who in their schemes a Deity maintain. 
His intellectual and moral powers 
Declare him such, and with united voice 
Reason and Revelation both attest 
The doctrine true ; while, oft, inherent pride 
Tells him that perfect image he retains, 
Though marr'd by sin, by dissolution spoil'd. 
So a once potent chief, e'en though enslaved, 
Delights to^hear the sound of lordship still 5 
And greedily, from adulation's lips, 



174 „ THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Sucks in the loathsome stream of flattery, 
Which, were his reason in a proper tone, 
Would, like a serpent, twine around his heart, 
And through his vitals strike a deadly sting. 

Vain, feeble worm ! how fondly dost thou dream ! 
The glory is departed from thine house 5 
And thou art Nature's very plaything now, 
Image of God still think'st thou ? Get thee forth 
And shake thyself! ha ! ha ! who heedeth thee ? 
Assert thy proud dominion $ very few 
Among the brutes will own thy sov'reignty ; 
And they, too, sometimes, will their master smite. 

Bid earth obey thee. She, indeed, doth yield, 
Ungrudgingly, abundance. for thy toils. 
But now and then her independence speaks, 
When, with a thankless and ungracious hand, 
Thou cull'st the blessings, by refusing thee 
Her wonted, kind, beneficent supplies -, 
And oft, to show thee thou art not her Lord, 
Opens her ponderous jaws, and swallows up 
Cities, the labour of a thousand years ; 
While, with loud laughter, like a thunder peal, 
Derisively she aggravates thy woes. 

Command the ocean. On her heaving lap 
Thou ridest as triumphant -, and there was 
An idiot of thy race in former times, 
An idiot 'mongst the nations counted great, 
W T ho o'er her mock parade of triumph made, 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 175 

As she were conquered. But command her- hark ! 
Those sullen murmurs ; she defies thy power : 
And roughly snatching from thy puny grasp 
The riches thou wast bearing over her, 
Casts them into her unsearch'd treasury. 

Walk through the forest ; in his solitudes 
Arouse the mighty lion. With a glare 
He'll meet, and beard thee with a surly growl 
That shakes thy soul -, as in some tyrant's face 
When deeply fall'n, a ruffian clown will shake 
His fist, though erst he trembled at his name. 

Go where thou wilt, thou art defied 5 the wasp, 
The very ant, salutes thee with a sting 3 
And e'en the gnat, that flutters in the beams 
Of summer suns, can steal thy life away. 
How is the mighty fall'n ! how has fail'd 
The great one in his pride ! 

But though he's sunk 
So low, the cast-down potentate retains 
Some traces yet of his primeval state, 
The image of his God ; as in the wilds 
Of Araby, Palmyra's ruins still 
Some faint marks of its former grandeur wear, 
And tell its ancient glories. He has still 
A mind expansive as the Universe, 
That rapidly through all creation runs ; 
Communes with Time as though he were its guest, 
And did unchronicle his memorv 



17 6 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Upon the social hearth ; plays with vast worlds 
As children with their marbles ; leaps alert 
From sun to sun, (as oft from isle to isle 
In shallow brooklets young adventurers spring, 
To shew the dauntless courage of their hearts,) 
And, as brought up with old Eternity, 
Would dive into the Uncreated One ; 
A mind that tracks effect to cause lays down ] 
Its propositions firm, and with the chain 
Of thought the deep conclusion fetches up 5 
Or, with strong nervous reasons, drags amain 
Coy Demonstration from his hiding-place. 
He has a soul, whose years will never cease 5 
Immortal as duration - } once begun, 
Endless 3 and faculties distinguishing 
'Twixt strictly moral good, and moral ill — 
And these discernible undying traits 
Speak the fall'n image of the Deity. 

Indeed, a Being of necessity 
Existent, whose perfections have no bounds 
(If human reason can ascend so high, 
Undazzled, as to trace the secret springs 
Of His great operations,) must create 
An image of Himself, a rational, 
Intelligent, and moral thing, to rule 
O'er the material creatures He has form'd 
His own perfection making the demand 
Eor such an outward exercise of power, 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 7/ 

To make creation perfect. 

Own, then, man 
The image of his Maker — grant that God 
Possesses all perfections He has given, 
And in the Deity there needs must be 
Some glorious attcibutes, that correspond 
With those peculiar faculties in us, 
Caird social ones ; I speak not of the bonds 
Of finite passion, — but the inherent power 
To make a promise, a command express, 
And witness bear. 

That God this power possesses 
We need not wander far for evidence. 
Let Nature be our witness. He who form'd 
The eye must see ; and He, whose mandate call'd 
Creation forth, most surely can command 3 
Or all the beauties that our eyes behold, 
When turning fondly on the earth's fair face, — - 
Or piercing far into immensity, 
To gaze delighted on its spangling orbs, — 
Nay, we ourselves, had no existence known. 
But if on nought except created things 
Those great perfections can be exercised, 
They cannot be eternal or immense ; 
And as, before Creation's natal hour, 
They never could be exercis'd at all, 
Not only are those attributes themselves 
Contingent, but the Godhead must possess 

1 5 



178 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Peculiar powers which once he did not hold 3 

And the firm grasp of mutability 

Thus seems to' enclose the Uncreated One, 

The great, Unchang'd, Immutable, Supreme. 

But, turn we to the converse side and own 

That, like the rest of His inherences, 

These too are infinite — we then are led 

(To find them an unbounded exercise) 

To some unlimited created thing, 

Another independent Deity, 

Or a distinctness of hypostases 

In the great Essence Increate ; — (the first 

And second of which three hypotheses 

We have before exploded :) and behold 

The Trinity in Unity again 

Stand forth in glory to the enquiring eye. 
Nor does the Deity's perfection yield 

An evidence less sure. For this seems plain, — 

(And here with deepest reverence I speak) 

If God exists in Unity alone, 

According to the wandering sceptic's dreams, 

He cannot in perfection know Himself 5 

He cannot fully exercise His power, 

His wisdom, goodness, purity, or love, 

According to their nature ; nor can hold 

Those social faculties He gave mankind. 

Nor is perfection of existence found 

In Him, for that, undoubtedly, must rest, 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 179 

(Since nought beside can grasp its every mode,) 

In union and distinctness. Wherefore, then. 

Sons of a blind philosophy, maintain 

This perilous position ? Wherefore shackle 

God's active, energetic attributes 

In all their operations, till as well 

We might suppose a paralys'd old man, 

Whose limbs had long forgot their native use, 

Complete in power, or deem an idiot sane, 

As think perfection can in Him inhere — 

When Trinity in Unity displays 

Perfection's beauty 5 reconciles in full 

Whatever appeared to jar, and Nature's voice 

With that of Revelation sweetly joins 

In one harmonious song of lasting praise. 

But now another theme demands our powers ; 
One far more welcome to the wearied Muse. 
And, since it is a subject much more fair 
Than aught that has of late our thoughts engag'd, 
Here stay we to recruit awhile her strength. 
Worn out with dissertations long and dry, 
On subjects almost incompatible 
With metaphor and verse. O Happiness ! 
Enchanting thought ! itnd of our being ! cup 
Brimming in fulness ! river of delight, 
Whose springs will never fail ! hope of the soul ! 
The thought of which is balm for all her wounds. 
And through the floods of sorrow and distress 



l&O THE DEITY. [PART II 

Still keeps her eager struggling for the shore ! 
Grand reservoir by Nature's streams supplied ! 
Prize which e'en fools seek after, though in scenes 
Where thou art not ! Pursuit of all mankind, 
However diverse are the paths they tread ! . 
Fruit of the tree of holiness, oft sought 
Though ever vainly, in the groves of Sin ! 
O Happiness, thou object of all love, 
All hope, all search, all longing, all desire ! 
Thee let me sing • nor only as thou'rt found 
On earth, but, grasping at a loftier strain, 
As thou dost in thy fountain rise, and thence 

Flow forth in never, never-ceasing streams. 

Power, knowledge, goodness, purity and love, 

Unbounded all must be, without dispute, 
Sufficient to produce full, perfect bliss. 

Yet, in the full possession of them all, 

If such a thing were possible, without 

Their exercise, it never could be found. 

For happiness is not a passive thing, 

Mere absence of all anguish and all pain, 

A lazy feeling, like the sluggard's ease, 

A settled calmness, wholly destitute 

Of Feeling's operations ; any more 

Than love, enchanting love, consists alone 

In absence of aversion. 'Tis the fruit 

Of Feeling's energetic exercise, 

Whose sweetness is apportioned to the strength 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY* 181 

And purity of the rich bough that bears it* 

Man, in his present state, finds bliss is hope ; 
But this from imperfection springs (the effect 
Of his sad fall, which banishes fruition). 
The sum of bliss, unfallen finite things, 
Or fallen ones, restor'd to God and glory.. 
Can ever know, is doubtless to be gain'd 
In exercise of moral excellence 3 
Which, like the moral attributes of God, 
As view'd already, may, perchance, be found 
Branching out wholly from the triple trunk 
Of goodness, love, and purity. 'Tis these. 
Possess'd more largely, make the angels' bliss 
Superior to ours ; with warmer love 
And purer, more benevolent, intent, 
They do their Maker's will 5 and day and night 
Fill His vast temple with their ceaseless cry 
Of " Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Hosts, 
Almighty ! of thy awful majesty, 
And thy transcendent glory, heaven and earth 
Are full :" and 'tis the exercise of these 
Brings man more nearly to his first estate, 
God's image ; and, its consequent effect, 
Makes him more happy, Who has ever felt 
Their drawings forth, when unaccompanied 
With an increase of joy ! who hath relieved 
The destitute, and seen the sparkling tear 
Of gratitude hang on the pallid cheek, 



13*2 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Bright as a planet on the face of heaven, 
And hath not felt its magic influence, 
(More powerful than that liquid, by the Queen 
Of Egypt brought before Mark Antony 
To make a dish of costliness immense,) 
Dissolve his very soul with tenderness 
And rapture ? Who hath e'er the naked cloth'd, 
And hath not felt himself that clothing's warmth 
Flung o'er his heart ? Who hath the hungry fed, 
And not received the food's best nourishment 
In his own spirit, strengthening its bliss ? 
Who hath e'er stopt the madd'ning rage of thirst, 
Nor felt relief as sweet as that he gave ? 
Who hath, with feelings of benevolence, 
Assuaged corporeal suffering, and not found 
Ten-fold reward in looks of thankfulness, 
Which in the eyes of langour rise, and thence 
Flow to his inmost mind ? Who hath relieved 
The throes of mental anguish 5 who hath broke 
The dams of wrath, that goodness might flow free 
In Mercy's channels ; who hath exercis'd 
Benevolence, in any of its ways 
So multitudinous, and hath not found 
A pleasure in the act ? None, none, the bliss 
Of goodness, bliss indubitably great, 
Is but in operation found -, and found 
Where'er it operates, apportioned well. 
The exercise of moral purity, 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 183 

(And there is still some little left in man, 

Though most the fall has lopt away ; and much 

Is found, 'tis hoped, where true religion dwells) — 

The exercise of moral purity, 

Though negative as much as positive 

Its operations are, display'd far most 

In strict integrity and rectitude, 

And strong resistance of the tempter's power, 

Produces the same fruits, though scarce, perhaps, 

So rich in taste. But 'tis in love we find 

The sweetest rapture -, love ! the life, the soul 

Of holiness, the very vital breath 

Of joy. 

Ye who have felt its influence 
Most strongly, whose delightful hours roll on 
Like the wild wanderings of a pleasing dream, 
In bliss that almost mocks reality, 
Will ye not attestation give ? And ye 
Who know the drawings of a stronger flame. 
Whom God's high love constrains to love in turn, 
Will ye not bear me witness ? yes 3 there's bliss 
In wisdom, goodness, purity, and hope, 
There's bliss in all 5 but Love has drain'd its cup ; 
And press'd the last rich juice-drop from its grape. 

And Love has drain'd his cup, and press'd the last 
Rich juice-drop from his luscious grape 5 and lifts 
Now in Salvation's goblet to the lips 
Of mortals ! and can they refuse to taste ? 



184 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Alas ! alas ! man turns away his head 3 
And shuns it as it were a nauseous draught 5 
And to escape from lasting happiness 
Runs in the paths of woe. 

I knew a youth, 
And know him yet, a youth of studious cast, 
The steady object of whose constant search, 
As 'tis with most men, but in him appear'd 
More visible, was to be happy. He, 
E'en in his childhood, had a thoughtful turn, 
And oft would leave his playmates' merry games 
To commune with the thoughts of other minds, 
In the close printed page. He lov'd a maid 
At life's first dawn 5 before its sun was up 
He lov'd her 5 and his infantine delight 
(Ere yet he knew the' enchanted cup, of which 
He drank so deeply, though unwittingly, 
Almost as early as he drank of life) 
Was to behold her 3 in her eyes to trace 
The glances of young passion, like the first 
Bright tints of glory on the morning's brow, 
Which they unconscious wore ; to breathe the same 
Air that she, too, was breathing 5 lisp the same 
Accents she lisp'd j with her stroll through the fields. 
And wander wild to cull the fairest flowers 
To give her for a smile; to sit with her 
Upon the wintry hearth ; and eat and drink 
As she did. Yes ! he lov'd her, and his flame, 



BOOK Vtl.J THE DEITY. 185 

Young as he was, observance shunn'd ; and oft. 

When 'twas demanded by a parent's voice, 

Where he had been so long ? rather than speak 

That name so dear, though wherefore scarce he knew ; 

Contented he went fasting to his rest, 

To hold communion with her in his thoughts, 

And feast again upon the day's dear scenes 3 

Weil pleased for mental rapture to endure 

The pangs of hunger, yea, a parent's frowns. 

But they were from each other torn ; their homes 
Were fiVd in din° rent cities, wide apart, 
And older bosoms knew not, heeded not, 
W T hat they had thus so blighted in the bud. 

By nature studious, this more studious made him I 
And though he, sometimes, with alacrity 
Join'd in the school-boy frolics, yet he seem'd 
(As having sipp'd it near the fountain-head) 
Far more than any of the rest to know 
The want of perfect happiness, aware 
That it was not so easy to be found 
As childhood mostly pictures it. Years rolFd, 
And brought their changes, Once or twice he caught 
A meteor-glance from those bright eyes, whose ray 
Could light him through a lengthful train of years 
Back to themselves 5 but clouds of circumstance 
Veil'd them at last 3 and the' illusion fled. 

More now than ever did he feel the void 
Which she so sweetly had mTd up. To books 



1S6 



THE DEITY. [PART 



He grew still more devoted 3 and, at times, 
Would woo the Muse in soft and pensive strains • 
Pensive indeed, for o'er his mother's grave 
Their courtship first began 5 the' unsightly tomb 
The tablet was on which he wrote his thoughts ; 
And death the priest that married them. 

Awhile 
Gaining from books ideas of the earth 
He dwelt upon, much, much beside the truth, 
He in a pleasing vision was enwrapt : 
And thousand castles built in air 3 and traced 
Over and over his life's length, a life 
Of usefulness, from disappointment free, 
Blest with whatever can bless our mortal state, 
Fame, honour, friendship, virtue, wealth, and love. 
For poetry was then unto his soul 
The talisman of hope 3 and in pursuit 
Of Virtue's fleeting shade, (her substance scorn'd. 
Where only that true substance can be found, 
At meek Religion's feet,) he swiftly flew 3 
Till love, that first inform'd his heart of bliss, 
Rous'd from the trance of years. 

He lov'd again, 
And dream'd again of happiness 3 but dream'd 
Indeed. The little tyrant vex'd his soul 3 
His flame was unrequited 3 and his heart 
Grew sad. Toward manhood now as rising up, 
His open'd eyes, by disappointments open'd, 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 187 

Began to see earth's drear realities. 

Sight most unwelcome ; for at first, he fain 

Had shut them up again, to dream of bliss, 

But could not. Sicken'd, he perhaps had fled 

From life, but that he dreaded death, for lack 

Of hope immortal. Life and death alike 

Hateful, he long'd to vomit up his soul, 

But for the fear of dreaming in death's sleep ; 

And fast was sinking in despair's cold arms ; 

When suddenly another phantom caught 

His view, and sure he thought, as sager heads 

Have thought, that wisdom might produce him bliss, 

A fresh pursuit fresh relish gave ; and on 
In chase of his new game he swift career'd. 
But though she stood full in the city's street, 
And loudly cried to all the passers-by, 
" I've built my house ; I've spread the festive board ; 
Come in, come in, and hearty welcome find," 
He slighted her ; supposing, in his pride, 
'Tvvas but a harlot who had stol'n her clothes 3 
And set himself a long and arduous task, 
To turn o'er pond'rous folios, and spend 
Long days and nights in meditation deep, 
Hoping by some good chance to find — find what ? 
A vapour 3 a mere shadow of the form 
Which he had pass'd regardless. 

Mock'd, and wrung, 
And disappointed in his very soul, 



188 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

By his new idol's falsehood, as he was 
By love's before, the hopeful, hopeless youth, 
Gave up the fruitless , search for happiness, 
And sunk in low despondency ; when lo ! 
He found, almost unsought, the very thing 
So long, so vainly look'd for 5 — happiness — 
Religion's handmaid, found it in the Book 
Which he had much neglected, much despis'd. 

As on the* horizon's total darkness bursts 
The lightning's sudden broad expansive flash, 
So burst the truth upon his soul ; and long 
He stood amaz'd, confounded. There he saw 
The love of God to him, and by that sight 
He gain'd the very bliss he sought so long, 
So vainly :-— for that moment he receiv'd 
A principle of vital holiness, 
A spring of goodness, purity, and love, 
All inexhaustible 5 and found with these 
A glorious object upon which to pour 
The' overflowing fulness of his soul 5 on whom 
To exercise unceasing, boundless love, 
Nor exercise in vain 5 and this, oh, this, 
If bliss be found on earth, is perfect bliss. 

But to return : — for we have wander'd wide, 
As one released from thraldom wildly strays 
He scarce knows whither, and with new delight 
Then gazes oft upon such trivial things 
As once perchance could scarce a moment's space 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 189 

Attract his notice. — If in operation 

Of moral excellence alone are found 

(Where hope is banish'd by fruition full) 

The fruits of happiness -, and Deity 

Be to Himself a fountain-spring of bliss, 

Ineffable, eternal, underiv'dj 

Where then does fond enquiry lead the mind ? 

Oh ! talk not of presumption ! — tell me not 

It is but limiting the Deity 

To say that bliss, as it inheres in Him, 

Must flow from sources consonant with ours — 

W r hile Revelation's voice attests the truth 

Which Reason here would urge. "Thou lovedst me/' 

Hear the Redeemer's sacred lips exclaim, 

" Before the world's foundations." Here he points 

To God's eternal source of happiness, 

And shews it was not mere inactive rest. 

And well may Reason, with a voice like His 

Corroborating its conclusions, say, 

" As happiness is only to be found 

(Where hope's bright visions can no entrance gain,) 

In exercise of moral excellence — 

And no plurality of Gods can be — 

Then either God exists in modes distinct, 

Or was, before an object yet was form'd 

On whom to exercise his attributes, 

Eternally devoid of perfect bliss." 

Again, where happiness consists alone 



190 THE DEITY. [PART 

In exercise of moral excellence, 
Tis evident, according to the' extent 
Of operation, its extent must be. 
He who, with feelings of benevolence, 
Has sav'd a fly from drowning, has felt joy 
In seeing the poor fruiterer wipe its wings, 
Reviving, raise its feeble head, then soar 
Aloft, and buzz its thankfulness. But he 
Who has relieved a fellow-creature's woes, 
Whose choice companions are the destitute. 
Whose walks of pleasure to the six-bed lead, 
Whose sweetest music is the grateful thanks 
Of widows and of orphans, whose delight 
Like Howard's, is to weaken Misery's moan, 
Feels a far larger joy. 

I had a friend 
Who lov'd a dog, and lov'd it haply more 
Than anything besides 5 it was indeed 
A faithful creature, such a friend as few 
Of human form could vie with. No restraints 
Upon its inclination, no reproof 
For actions disapprov'd, — which often turn 
To coldness all the warmth of human hearts, — 
Could weaken its affections 5 they appear'd 
Always the same $ and it had num'rous ways, 
Quaint, curious, laughable 3 and artful tricks 
Engaging 5 so that, take it all in all, 
Its master thought no other of its kind 



BOOK VII.] THE DEITY. 191 

Could hold compare with it, And when it died, 

Albeit he was one not overstocked 

With tenderness, but prided himself more 

In a stern fortitude, more manly deem'd, 

Than in the softer passions of the soul, 

He wept, though haply down his cheeks no tears 

Ere then had wander'd for a lustrum past. 

He lov'd the little faithful animal, 
And in that love found joy ; but not such joy 
As knows the youthful heart, that fondly beats 
In ecstasy, to feel the throbs of one, 
Reciprocal, 'gainst which 'tis prest, and prest 
With such a warmth, so closely, as they wish'd 
To rush into each other — lose at once 
Their whole distinctness, and, like parted globes 
Of quicksilver, unite themselves in one. 
Ah no ! the fuller exercise of love, 
Like that of goodness, yields superior bliss. 

As then the happiness of God must be 
Complete, above all height, beneath all depth, 
Immense, eternal, and immutable, 
He needs must have some object, infinite, 
Co-equal, co-eternal, with Himself, 
United, yet distinct, on whom to pour 
The' o'ernowing fulness of His attributes ; 
Which leads us to the same eternal truth 
We now so long have been contending for. 

To follow up this train of argument 



192 THE DEITY [PART II. 

Still farther would be casting time away ; 

And labouring but to tire the ear of taste 

With a redundance needless. This we have 

Already proved, if God's Omnipotent, 

Omniscient ; if true moral excellence 

In Him inhere ; if He himself possess 

Perfections He has given to finite things -, 

If he be happy, and if perfect, then 

The doctrine of the Trinity is true ; 

And haply by each other attribute, 

Save those more strictly physical, which shew 

His perfect unity, (immensity, 

Eternity, immutability,) 

The same thing might be prov'd. But now we seek 

A different field. God in the abstract viewed, 

Has long employed our thoughts ; but Him we now 

As the Creator and Provider sing ; 

Thence seeking, as conclusive, proof to draw 

That if there be a God, that God must be, 

As in the scriptures we are plainly taught, 

Three Persons in one Essence, Increate. 



END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY 



BOOK VIII. 



ARGUMENT. 

The Trinity of Deity asserted by Creation and Providence. — Dis- 
tinct hypostases necessary to Creation. — God must be incom- 
prehensible yet comprehensible, and incommunicable yet com- 
municable. — Pantheism refuted. — The trinity asserted by the 
necessity of Redemption. — Concluding address to Sceptics in 
defence of the Scriptures. 



BOOK VIII. 



Well I remember being railed at, once, 
For fondly cherishing a strange belief 
In One I could not comprehend : though he 
Who saw such matter for derision there, 
With atheistical consistency 
Believed light was, yet could not comprehend 
The mode of its existence, or the mode 
In which it is from suns conveyed to orbs 
That bask delighted in their gladsome smiles. 
That God must be incomprehensible 
Is clear, methinks, as the cerulean arch, 
When not a cloud emblackens its fair face, 
Or hides the sun's effulgent beams \ for who 

k 2 



196 THE DEITY. [PART IF. 

That is but a mere creature of a day, 

Can fold his arms around the Eternal One ? 

What limited the' Unlimited contain ? 

What finite fully grasp Infinitude ? 

When ocean's emptied in a goblet, when 

A world in one of its own caves is thrust, 

Or in Time's brooklet is Duration drowned. 

Then man may comprehend the Deity. 

Above all height, beneath all depth, beyond 

All width, without beginning, end, or change, 

He lives ; great, inconceivable I am ! 

And 'twould be wiser far in man, fond worm, 

Did he endeavour with a spider's web 

To fathom space, than strive, with his weak powers. 

To comprehend the' Incomprehensible, 

To fathom the Unfathomable One, 

Search to perfection the Unsearchable, 

Or thrust into the grasp of his vain thoughts 

The God in whom are all things. 

Yet, methinks, 
As the spruce atheist furnish'd us, erewhile, 
With arms to battle 'gainst deistic bands, 
He does so, in this burst of raillery, 
Again : and thence, too, may we somewhat gain 
To aid our cause j for there, indeed, was rock 
Beneath the ice he sagely stood upon, 
In that position which he thought secure, 
Though deeply flowing waters passed between. 



BOOK VIII.] TOE DEITY. 197 

There is a tendency in human minds 

(Proceed it from their native littleness, 

From union to a gross, material frame, 

Or from whatever other cause it may), 

E'en when we muse upon the Deity, 

To grasp at somewhat tangible in shape, 

Not totally beyond our faculties 

To understand. And if, in very sooth 5 

In His own abstract, vast infinitude, 

Incomprehensible, unlimited, 

And utterly unmanifestable, 

'Twere possible for God to make these worlds,— 

Unable, then, to apprehend its Maker, 

Left, like an ostrich egg } to chance or fate, 

Creation were a God unto itself, 

Unconscious for existence whom to praise ; 

And atheists scarce were left without excuse, 

Who, robbing God of personality, 

The primal principles of nature deem 

As adequate to such a weighty task ; 

Or heathens, who in sun, and moon, and stars, 

Attempt to worship Him they cannot know. 

But is it possible ? Could He who is 
In all His great essential attributes, 
Immense, eternal, and immutable, 
Whose wonderful volitions must be all 
Accordant with His nature, — thus create 
A bounded universe, and not descend 



198 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

From abstract boundlessness ? The very act 
Of calling to existence finite things 
Were stooping in the Deity 5 who thus 
Voliting within limits, brings Himself 
To bounds of apprehensibility - y 
And, stepping forth from His infinitude, 
Assumes a Christhood -, over finite things 
Commencing then an everlasting reign. 

This is the God of Nature, God in Christ ; 
At once her Head, and Heart, and Fountain-spring, 
Beginning, Centre, End, and All in all. 
But if to bring to being, and supply, 
With kind beneficence, the constant needs 
Of such innumerable hosts of things, 
God must come forth from His infinitude, 
There needs must be distinct hypostases 
In the primeval Essence ; that while one, 
By giving life inherent life reveals, 
Another may uphold immutably 
The abstract boundlessness of Deity. 
Oh ! great Unspeakable ! gazing upon Thee, 
My soul grows dizzy. Her far-reaching eye, 
That look'd unwilder'd into boundless space, 
And glared upon Eternity, as though 
It could with uncreated vision see 
A bottom to a bottomless abyss, 
Before thy brighter presence now turns dim ; 
And having, in her lofty wanderings, found 



SOOK Vltl.] THE DEITY. 99 

At last the throne of the Anointed One, 

Her own creating and redeeming God, 

There would she fondly rest her weary head $ 

And lest, perchance, in this her giddy flight, 

Some dews of error should pollute her wings, 

Aware that rich forgiveness is in Him, 

There in the bosom of sweet mercy hide, 

Hide evermore. But, yet, a little while 

We must continue on the wing. This flight 

Is almost ended ; and, when this is done, 

I'll urge her way through reason's heights no more j 

But let her calmly and securely rest 

On the bright visions of a God revealed. 

A God revealed ! ah yes, e'en now that theme 
Demands us ; though on Revelation's page 
We must not dwell till this, our middle strain, 
Is ended : for this wide creation stands 
A revelation of the Invisible, 
Though but imperfect in its lineaments 3 
And reason, from a manifesting God, 
Would prove His tri-une nature yet again. 
That independent, self-subsistent cause, 
Who, out of nothing, by his fiat, called 
This great material universe, must sure 
Have had some end to answer. Man, himself, 
Works not without design. The very child, 
Whose blundering essays cause us oft to smile, 
Its every effort (feebly though indeed) 



200 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

To some known purpose bends : though dimly seen, 

Like the fond poet's visions, when, at first, 

His half-awakened thoughts break on his soul,, 

As oft gleams faintly through some passing mists 

A sunny landscape that at distance lies. 

Nor did the' Omniscient One, as Atheists dream 

Of their "sublime necessity/' urged on 

By an involuntary impulse, bring, 

Without design, the realm of matter forth -, 

And thus dispose it into suns and worlds 

With wisdom infinite. What, then, could be 

His bright design, unless to manifest 

Himself? It could not make Him happier - 7 

For He, above contingency, beyond 

The reach of old Mutation's lengthful arm, 

Is to Himself a fountain-spring of bliss, 

Unfailing, underived. It could not make 

Him wiser, for ere Nature yet was born, 

Before one feather yet had shown itself 

Upon Duration's unfledged wings, He was 

All-wise : — all-powerful, for He always was 

Almighty : — or His moral attributes 

Strengthen, for goodness, purity, and love, 

Dwelt in Him as their source. To manifest 

These His inherent attributes it was 

He bade this universal frame spring forth, 

Which, sudden as the w r ord that gave it birth, 

Appeared in what had erst been vacant space, 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 201 

Though at its birth a chaos ; whose wild hosts 
Swiftly retreated, murmuring: discontent, 
With more than usual uproar, as they flew. 
At that Almighty word, which thus had reft 
A part of what they deemed their heritage. 

If, then, for revelation of Himself 
In outward mode, the self-existent One 
Became Creator, as His great designs 
Are perfect, perfect all His glorious works, 
That revelation, doubtless, must be clear : 
For which, besides creative power, He needs 
A visible appearance, by whose aid, 
At once to make His power and being known, 
Whose shape can strike the eye, whose voice the ear, 
And, operating on the senses, bring 
Conviction to the mind. Who would believe 
With such belief as wakens adoration, 
Or aught beyond a speculative thought, 
In one that never had been seen or heard, 
Whom none could e'er declare, since none have known i 
Let angels, who encircle the bright throne 
Of the Jehovah visible, who know 
Him, and, unceasing, tell His boundless praise : — 
Let man, estranged from Him, who wanders wild 
In the dim paths of error, and denies 
His being, or conceives such things of Him 
As testify the darkness of his soul, 
Let all creation give the answer.— None. 



202 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Were God incomprehensible alone, 

With greater reason might the soul of pride 

Turn Atheist 5 and big, with vast conceit, 

Suppose his own the highest race of things 3 

And lesser minds, in paucity of all 

Sure evidence, adore such idol forms 

As have existence only in their dreams. 

Whereas, if Deity has ever yet 

Humbled Himself,* the comprehending gaze 

Of finite things to meet, He must exist 

In modes distinct 5 that while the one thus stoops, 

Another may uphold immutably 

His own infinitude. 

I grant it, sooth, 
(Allowing, for the sake of argument, 
That Deity unlimited, might act 
Compatibly with His infinitude 
In finite modes), that there are divers ways, 
In which, without distinct hypostases, 
The omnipresent One might strike the soul, 
Alarm the senses, and, in sober minds, 
Awaken thoughts of some superior power. 
Creation, order, first — and, next to these, 
Nature convulsed to order thence restored -, 
Earthquakes, tornadoes, tempests, hurricanes, 

* I have used the word humbled because our Translators have 
made it a Scriptural expression, though, according to Dr. Kidd, it 
should have been rendered stoopeth, rather than humbleth, Himself. 



BOOK VIII.J THE DEITY. 203 

Judgments, and providences, all declare 

His being. But what have these taught mankind, 

Where other tutors' lessons all have been 

Despised, neglected, or long time forgot ? 

Where thick'ning clouds envelope nature's light, 

They talk to him of spirits fraught with power. 

Or gods contending; and, where science shines, 

Effects are analyzed to find their cause, 

The great First Cause forgotten in the search, 

And worms, in wisdom wrapping themselves up, 

Smile at the heathenish credulity 

That fancies God apparent in such things 

As they can understand and well define ; 

And, big with nature, straightway they deny 

That God's existence, or conceive Him one, 

Respecting whom it is not worth their while 

To throw their valuable thoughts away. 

Abstracted, too, from all material things, 
And unconnectible, in strictest sense, 
The Deity must be 5 (or matter is 
Eternal, and a portion of Himself, 
Aforetime proved a rank absurdity,) 
And yet withal connectible, to hold 
An influence o'er the creatures He has formed 
As moral agents, who, unless upheld 
By His immutable, sustaining power, 
Were ever insecure, as one who walks, 
While slumbering, on a precipice's edge. 
For, since there's nought but God immutable, 



204 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

And that which is made good, if it should change, 

Must turn to evil 3 every thing His power 

Has formed, howe'er it may in strength excel, 

(If He were not communicable, too,) 

Would, through Duration's course, be liable 

To rush on ruin w T ith a headlong speed 5 

Till sullen Desolation smiled to see 

God baffled ; and the universe his own. 

Nor would eternal wisdom thus have made 

These worlds, and fill'd them with their creature-forms, 

Unless He could exert His sovereign power 

To govern and protect, and keep them free 

From evil ; or, for some wise glorious end, 

Permitting it to enter them, thence bring 

Immortal good. And if communicable, 

The great primeval Essence doth exist, 

He must exist in yet another mode, 

Distinct, both from the one that still upholds 

Immutably His own abstractedness, 

And from the one that limited itself 

To bounds of comprehensibility, 

And manifested stood to creature eyes. 

Again 3 I grant it true, the Power Divine, 
Allowing Him but tw r o hypostases, 
One to uphold His own infinitude, 
The other to commune with finite things, 
Might, by the mouth of man, reveal Himself 
In words the utterer could not understand, 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 205 

As only passive in the wondrous act. 

And what the* effect of such a thing had been, 

Ere yet the march of intellect had made 

Mankind a great deal w T iser than their God, 

It might be difficult to answer for - 7 

But were such things in these enlightened times, 

'Tis probable our scientific race 

Might dub the agents idiots for their pains ; 

And haply calling in phrenology 

To aid, might, from their sculls, shew reasons why 

The wretched creatures' reason was unsound, 

Which caused such raving fits. So prophets have 

Been scorned of yore, when by that God inspired, 

Who was erewhile revealed; and how could they 

Expect aught better, if inspired by One 

Who never had been, never could be, known ? 

A Plato's mind, ere Christ appeared in flesh, 
By nature's and tradition's fitful blaze, 
(Faint though it be), saw something of a God. 
And others may have lived, w 7 hose words have borne, 
Like his, some near resemblance to the truth : 
But who believed them ? such as were, indeed, 
A handful to the harvest 3— and who now 
Believe the witnesses of that great God, 
Who has been manifest, and will again, 
Ere long, be manifest in glory r None, 
Save those in whom His Spirit works with power - 
For though vast numbers tacitly believe, 



206 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

None else, believing with the heart adore. 

To reconcile all contrarieties, 
Which, by opposing reasoners, had been urg'd, 
And make the God of fancy, — God without 
Plurality of persons, capable 
At least, in some sense, to reveal himself 
Unto his creatures, whilom it was said, 
(And e'en a modern Pantheist, one whose brows 
Not undeservedly wore the circling bays, 
Asserted it some hundred years agone.) 
That God was nature's soul - } and though I own, 
If prov'd the' hypothesis, he might have power. 
Without existing, then, in modes distinct, 
To' inform the heart and make His being known 
By influence on the minds of finite things, 
That revelation were imperfect still, 
E'en were the doctrine fully true. But no, 
Though "All are parts of one stupendous whole/' 
As well he thus far sings, yet God is not 
The soul of Nature's body. Nature lives 
And moves in Him ; but pre-existent He, 
And independent of each minor cause, 
W T hose office 'tis to work out every change 
Upon the face of matter's kindling frame, 
Lives in Himself alone. The' Almighty mind 
Is not confined to matter, as the soul 
Is to the body join'dj for though He dwells 
At once through all eternity and space 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 20/ 

— As what can hold immensity, or what 

Can set a boundary to infinitude ? — 

Not as the soul He dwells, but as the power 

Supreme ; in whom they both indeed inhere : 

The All-directing, the All-ruling power, 

Who keeps in motion what His word has form'd. 

Can one iota of this outward frame 

Feel e'en the least, the slightest sense of pain, 

And the* unawaken'd soul unconscious rest, 

Nor own a pang congenial ? No ! a tie, 

The closest tie the universe can boast, 

Conjoins them with each other, and whate'er 

Affects the one affects its partner too. 

And who shall say (presumptuous thought !) that He, 

Creation's God, shares every vital pang 

That every animated being feels, 

When matter sinks to its original, 

Or starts to life in some new-kindled form ? 

Can Godhead know the dire effects of change ? 

Can Godhead feel the keen assaults of pain ? 

No ! no ! with Him at least is bliss, unchang'd, 

Immutable -, eternally unknown 

To any sense of suffering ; He could see 

Not atoms only perish, not alone 

Successive generations sink in dust, 

But suns and planets, yea, whole systems fail. 

For independently He lives,- and still 

As perfect and as happy would remain, 



208 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

E'en did annihilation's dreadful hand 
Close on the fabric of the universe, 
And crush it with its adamantine grasp 
To nothingness again. 

Once more : whate'er 
His mode of being, God must needs be pure -, 
Impeccable ; at all points arm'd 'gainst sin 
With righteous indignation \ One, whose name 
Is Holiness ; whose nature is with evil 
Quite incompatible j nor can allow 
Its mere existence, unaveng'd, unjudg'd. 
Yet is not evil rife in this dark world, 
Where murder, tyranny, and rapine rear 
Their crimson'd hands, and seek with human gore 
To glut the fire-ey'd Moloch of their worship ? 
Where foul adultery, drunken with Hell's lees, 
In the full current of pollution wades, 
And feasts all greedy upon others' pangs : 
And theft, strife, hatred, and unnumber'd ills 
Are still at hand ? Can we then 'scape His wrath 
Without redemption ? And can aught redeem 
The fallen, that is mutable itself, 
Upheld alone by God's sustaining power 
Impotent powerless ? Or can God redeem, 
As the Unknown, Incomprehensible, 
Unbounded, Omnipresent, Infinite 
And Unembodied One ? Can He thus die 
To save from death, on whose existence hangs 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 209 

All nature's life ! Away, anoint thy eyes, 

Vain man, and wash them from sin's darkening film, 

That in a purer light thou mayst behold 

That Being 'gainst whose laws thou dar'st rebel. 

Death is the bane of life $ the opposite 
Of God : the' inevitable consequence 
Of sinfulness ; of being far estrang'd 
From Him who is Life, and gave life to man $ 
The sad sad proof of the creation's fall. 
Where sin is not, and there's a principle 
Of life, while yet it rests unstain'd by sin, 
'Tis probable that it can never cease 
While Godhead lives : much less be quench'd at once 
By Death's inveterate grasp ; yet here Death reigns $ 
The faithful witness that our glory's gone ; 
And on us now abides the wrath of God. 
Where then, without Redemption, shall we hide ? 
Where find Redemption, save in Christ the Lord ? 
As a poor wretch within a dungeon's walls 
Immur'd, insolvent, bankrupt, with a debt 
Which all creation never could discharge, 
We still had pined despairing, had not help 
Been laid on One that's mighty ; One who is 
Above creation, yet for us bears 
A brother in distress, to rescue us ; 
And purchase for us everlasting joy. 

Redemption, like creation's work, requires 
Distinct hypostases in Deity 3 



210 THE DEITY. [PART II, 

And for Redemption too there must be three ; 

One to sustain its abstract boundlessness 3 

Another to fulfil the strict demands 

Of justice for the object ; and a third 

To purify that object, and restore 

To its primeval state of excellence. 

To this conclusion therefore are we brought, 

That either man, unfallen, yet remains 

Perfect, as from his Maker's hands he came 5 

Or, being all transgressors, all must meet 

Heaven's curse, — an immortality of woe ; 

Or there's a Trinity of modes in God. 

They who assert that man's unfallen rob God 

Of purity and justice > for if pure, 

He could not make a being so impure ; 

If just, he could not doom His creatures thus 

To sufferings unmerited, which make 

Existence, else a blessing, seem a curse. 

That all must sink in everlasting woe, 

Is a position where but few, methinks, 

Of these bold battlers 'gainst the Trinity, 

Would dare maintain a hopeless garrison. 

The last conclusion then alone is just, — 

That God is Three in One. 

Here then we rest ; 
Collect the substance of these scatter'd thoughts 
In smaller compass, as we in a glass 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 211 

Collect the sun-rays for a greater heat ; 

And close this middle portion of our song. 

If there is truth in what we have maintain'd, 

If reason, demonstration, aid the strain, 

Such e'en of bare necessity is God. — 

Abstractly view'd 5 possess'd of attributes, 

Whose energy and influence demand 

Communication, such as cannot be 

Save He exist in personalities ; 

And, as referring to created things, 

Known yet unknown ; incomprehensible 

Yet comprehensible and manifest 5 

Unlimited yet limited 5 abstract 

From all the beings by creation His 5 

And yet withal communicable 3 pure, 

And yet forgiving man's impurity. 

And when the light of nature will shew how, 

Without a Trinity in Unity, 

To reconcile whatever seems to jar, 

And prove that our hypotheses are false, 

Then will I own Redemption but a dream, 

And Revelation but a fancied thing. 

'Till when, as to the moon we look for light, 

While the bright orb of day is hid from view, 

So, till I drop this blind mortality, 

And in a purer light behold my God, 

I'll seek to find Him in His written word, 

That shews Him forth reflected bright and fair 



212 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

In all His attributes and all His works ; 
And with the fondness of a heart in love, 
Will clasp that darling treasure to my breast, 
Whence I, all hope, all light, all bliss derive. 

Oh Sceptic ! brother ! who art wand'ring wild 
In paths I lately trod, — bestrewn indeed 
With flowers, but odourless, whose beauty fades 
Right early, — there careering in pursuit 
Of a pale meteor, whose fitful ray 
The noisome vapours of the charnel house 
Extinguish, — paths I still had wander'd in, 
But for the' abounding mercy of that God 
Whose being here I seek to prove, whose name 
I here attempt to glorify, — once more 
To thee the hopeful Muse would fondly turn, 
And with affectionate entreaties seek 
To wake reflection in thy soul — that joy, 
Joy in the knowledge of the Lord of Hosts, 
Joy which expandeth in the damps of death, 
Whose denser chill compresses all things else ; 
Joy such as I have known might be to thee 
Imparted. Hast thou followed, on the wings 
Of fond enquiry, the aspiring Muse, 
And through eternity, duration, time, 
Immensity, expansion, nature, — sought 
For truth ? what has the flight elicited ? 
Why e'en the very things for which, in chief, 
Thou scorn'st the book by mercy brought to earth 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 213 

To teach true wisdom to the sons of men ; — 
That there's an Infinite Intelligence, 
And He a Trinity in Unity °, 
Of whose hypostases, one must have stoop'd 
For the creation of the universe, 
Becoming what the scriptures term the Christ, 
Maker, Head, Heir, and Sovereign Lord of all. 
And can then true philosophy reject 
As false, a book, which, the same sterling truths 
As reason follow'd closely brings to light, 
Maintains with such corroborations ? Seal'd 
With the broad signet of the' Eternal One 
Stamp'd upon all its pages ? Is it true 
Philosophy, without examining, 
To scorn a book that purports to entail 
Eternal bliss, or everlasting woe, 
On its acceptance or rejection ? Oh ! 
I could almost respond the prophet's words, 
' Would that my head were waters, and mine eyes 
Fountains of flowing tears, that I might weep 
Daily and nightly" through life's passing years, 
For human blindness and for human sin ! 

Fond child of man ! why wilt thou turn away 
From the stretch'd hand that holds the precious fruits 
Of happiness, and bids thee freely taste, 
And, tasting, everlasting life enjoy? 
Is there no joy in hope ? Is there no joy 
In peace of mind ? in fond entrancing love : 



23.4 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

These are Religion's products ; the rich fruits 

That clustering hang upon the tree of life, 

Which in the garden of the Spirit grows 

Far, far more strong than on the mountain tracts 

Of nature, where the ever piercing winds 

Of desolation nipping in the bud, 

It seldom blooms, and yet more seldom brings 

The young fruit forth. And are not these then worth 

Acceptance, with the promise of a bliss 

More pure, more lasting, — immortality 

Of rapture ? But alas ! I know the throbs 

(For I have felt them,) of inherent pride, 

That, rising up in fancied majesty, 

Spurns the abasing thought that it has need 

Of being saved, and scorns to call that book 

The word of God, whose language is so plain, 

When treating on the most momentous things ; 

So free from that extravagance and pomp 

Which mark the efforts of aspiring man, 

That he who runs may read $ and he who reads, 

May with the outward understanding know 

Its meaning, though his intellect's so weak 

He scarce could follow through a single line 

The lofty flights of Britain's famous bards. 

Yet hear me, Sceptic, would'st thou, did'st thou wish 
A boor to understand thee, talk to him 
In Latin ? would 'st thou to a babe propound 
A problem ? to a weaned child harangue 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 215 

Of mathematics, metaphysics, things 

He knows no more of than the dust he treads ? 

But small indeed would seem the grace of God, 

If what He sent by Mercy's angel-hands 

As a rich boon for rebel ruin'd man, 

Were to the greater portion of his race, 

(E'en though they read it with desire to know 

Its rich contents, and by the knowledge live,) 

A mere enigma scarcely solvable \ 

A mass of unintelligible words, 

By which, as though in mockery to their woes, 

He bade them to direct their wandering feet 

From endless death to everlasting life. 

Soon will it be our fairer task to sing 
The God we now by Reason's lamp have found, 
From Revelation's teeming page. Cast then 
The glass of prejudice away 5 and look 
With an unjaundic'd eye. Read it with care; 
And if thou still shouid'st doubt, go like a child 
Unto the throne of grace, with uplift heart 
Implore heaven's guidance, feeling thou art blind, 
And He, who from my hand has snatch'd the pen 
That from rebellion's wing I pluck'd, and dipt 
In gall, to write high things against His name — 
He who has led me from the darkening shades 
Of Infidelity, and set me up 
A monument of His redeeming love, 
To shew His mercy is unbounded, — He, 



216 THE DEITY. [PART II. 

Who shone upon my soul with beams divine, 
Brighter than those from the meridian thrown, 
Will give the knowledge of Himself to thee. 

The time is drawing on when such a storm 
As never yet has visited the earth, 
Will from the battlements of heaven be flung ; 
When vollied thunders shall awake the knell 
Of fallen empires, and departed crowns ; 
And the red lightnings of Almighty wrath 
Shall paralyze the bold blasphemer's arm, 
And shiver into pieces the broad sword 
Of his rebellion. Even now, in pledge, 
The drizzling rain of heaven's loud utter'd curse 
Is on us beating down. Death has begun 
His work ; and, preying on the outward frame, 
Gives time for meditation, ere the day 
Of everlasting destiny arrive. 
Yet there is refuge 5 yet a hiding-place, 
A covert from the tempest -, mercy's arms 
Are open to receive whoe'er will come, 
And shield them in her bosom. While the thread 
Of life is yet unbroken, while its flame 
Is unextinguished by the damps of death, 
While yet its tide is flowing, while its sun 
Appears above the* horizon's western verge, 
Hope smiles delightful in the firmament ; 
But loses lustre in its closing hour, 
And vanishes when that cold griping hand 



BOOK VIII.] THE DEITY. 217 

Which petrifies once warm and vigorous frames, 
Freezes the life-blood with its chilly touch, 
Wake, then, O slumberer ! wake ! ere all is lost 1 
And flee for refuge from that bursting wrath 
Which ever more will be tc the wrath to come?* 



END OF THE EIGHTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY. 

PART III. 
A GOD REVEALED. 

Search the Scriptures. Jesus. 



I thought it my duty to declare to whose works I was in 
debted for any of the subject-matter of the other portions of the 
poem, but it is scarcely needful to state that this is taken from the 
Holy Scriptures. As my controversy is not with my Christian 
brethren, but with the infidel, I have (though without blinking the 
truth) purposely avoided dilating much upon any doctrines which 
are not generally received ; and, when touching on the prophe- 
tical parts, respecting which opinion differs most widely, have en- 
deavoured, by keeping closely to the Word of God, and rather 
amplifying than attempting to interpret its beautiful metaphors, 
to avoid the path of all disputers. As St. John, in figurative lan- 
guage, gives us the First Resurrection, and the Coming of the 
Lord and the New Jerusalem, previous to the thousand years, I, in 
figurative language, have done the same ; and leaving them as 
abruptly as he, followed the Old Testament prophets in the de- 
scription of millenial blessedness. The description of the last 
Apostacy is wholly ideal, as Scripture says little more than that 
it will he; but not supposing I could find a better authority, I 
have again followed the exile of Patmos, in a sudden transition 
from the overthrow of the apostate hosts, to the great white 
ihrone and general judgment 



THE DEITY. 

BOOK IX. 



ARGUMENT. 

The External existence of the Tri-Une Deity. — The assumption of 
the Christhood before all Worlds by the Eternal Word.— The 
Creation of Angels. — Material Creatures. — The Fall of Man. — 
The Age before the Flood. — The Deluge. — The Patriarchal 
Age. — God revealed to Moses. — The Israelites in Egypt. — 
The destruction of the Egyptians, and Israel's triumphal 
Song. — The giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. — The Esta- 
blishment of Israel in the Land of Promise. — The Prophecies 
&c, to the Birth of Christ. 



BOOK IX, 



ie Hail blest repository of heavenly truth," 
My bible ! lamp of a benighted world, 
That, like a fair moon in a dark, dark hour, 
Refleet'st the brilliance of the' Eternal sun 
Of righteousness and wisdom : — dazzling ray 
Of pure celestial light, beclouded not, 
Save by the thick mists of the human mind, 
Its innate darkness : — smiling star of hope ! 
Fix'd o'er the black horizon of despair, 
To point us to another, better world : — 
Unfailing lanthorn to the Christian's path, 
To light him on through life's drear wilderness, 
Hail! word of God, word of the Living Word, 
Whose page reveals Him as incarnate here, 



224 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

To work out man's redemption -, — word of life 

Unto the dying sinner -, — word of rest 

Unto the weary; — word of sweet delight 

Unto the race of sorrow ; — word of peace 

To the lorn children of disquietude ; — 

And word of wisdom for the ignorant, 

Who dwell in darkness and the shades of death. 

Hail sacred treasure ! precious gift divine ! 

In thee I read, trac'd out in plainest lines, 

By Wisdom's hand, whate'er is needful here : — 

Discern unveil'd the Self-Existent God : — 

Find reeoncil'd His jarring attributes, 

Peace and good will proclaim'd to ruin'd man, 

And sinners pure before the Holy One: — 

Behold a time when Nature shall no more 

Groan 'neath the' oppressions of the tyrant Death, 

But, 'scap'd from his and sin's destructive sway, 

Start forth anew to everlasting life : — 

And see the God of all, the God of love. 

Godhead reveal'd ! let all creation shout 
With rapturous joy. Shout, every living thing ! 
Sing, each melodious voice ! and symphonize 
The lofty strain, each instrument of sound ! 
Let the full chorus thunder through all space, 
And every starry orb re-echo loud 
" Godhead reveal'd !" The dark involving shades, 
That Adam's first transgression brought on man, 
Are vanished 5 the bright beams of heavenly light 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. 225 

Burst through the awful gloom ; and, rising high, 
The Sun of righteousness its healing beams 
Sheds on the nations, and, dispersing wide 
The exhalations thick which veil'd the sight, 
Shews unto all who seek for knowledge there 
The being and the attributes of God. 

'Twas ere Creation's dawning; yet no sun 
Had shed its bright beams on immensity, 
Visible token of the' Invisible ; 
Morn had not been, nor Even ; ne'er had day 
Broke on Eternity, save as it dwells 
In secret in the Self-Existent One, 
Without beginning, without end or change ; 
Matter was not, those regions vast and wide, 
Where systems now innumerous hold on 
Their mystic dance and hymn their Maker's praise, 
Were but the waste abodes of nothingness, 
Far as material substance is concern'd ; 
Duration was not, and her offspring, Time, 
Was yet among the things that were to be, 
When reign'd the self-existent God alone, 
Spirit of power and wisdom, Source and Sum 
Of life and bliss, without beginning reign'd 
A perfect Trinity in Unity, 
As Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, made known. 
" Three," saith the Scripture, •' record bear in heaven. 
Father, Word, Spirit, and these three are one." 
Of these the Word, (the generated Son) 



226 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

While yet divine perfections, springing up. 

Within their native fount flow'd not beyond, 

When love link'd only the Eternal Three, 

And power and goodness dwelt in them alone, — 

By the full Deity was look'd upon 

As being from eternity set up 

For outward revelation of Himself. 

In this predestinate capacity, 

He stood as Godhead Comprehensible, 

Head, Heir, and King of all that was to be, 

Though more especially of His own church 

Elect, whose names were in His book of life, 

Creator, Governor, Protector, Judge, 

Wisdom, the Alpha and the Omega ! 

Known, since His advent, as the Son of Man, 

The Revelation of the' Invisible, 

The Fullness of the Inconceivable, 

The Bodily subsistence of that Power 

Who dwells through all, and past the range of things, 

The manifested God. Though in what way 

A true hypostasis of Deity, 

Who was till then incomprehensible, 

Was capable of limiting Himself 

To bounds of comprehensibility, 

Or acting as He were so limited, 

(Since all that we can understand of Him 

Is after He began to act in bounds,) 

Is not for us to know, — is past the reach 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. c 2^? 

Of finite weak capacities like ours -, 

Is as an object coming tow'rds the view, 

Ere its appearance strike the optic nerve. 

Thus much the Scriptures plainly testify,, 

In the beginning did the Christ exist ; 

The being who was veil'd in human flesh 

Was ere the origin of Time and things ; 

Was and had been from all eternity ; 

The word was w 7 ith God, axd the word was God. 

He was in the beginning; and had been 
Without beginning, from eternity. 
As God had been, as the begotten Son 
Had been, though as the Christ existing not 
Save in predestination, till He left 
The bosom of the Father, as a lamb, 
A slain lamb, left it, to His glory died 
As God, — His Godhead ever offering up 
Upon the altar of the Father's glory 
(Offering it up, yet still possessing it, 
Through every wondrous manifestive change 
In Christhood^ manhood and humanity,) 
Another, farther glory to receive 
As the Anointed Sovereign Lord of all, 
The head and heart of Nature, from whom flows 
Knowledge and life 3 and, limiting Himself, 
Or acting as He were thus limited, 
Stoop'd to create and govern finite things, 
In full accordance with the Father's will. 



C 2 C 28 THE DEITY. [PART I1T. 

Who in His proper person still upholds 
The abstract boundlessness of Deity. 

Thus did the' Eternal Son of God stand forth, 
Predestinated to the human form, 
And wearing oft the' appearance of that form 
When on the errands of His love He came, 
Ere He assum'd it in reality. — 
As the beginning of creation ; thus, 
As first-born of all creatures ; thus it was 
As well as in His abstract Deity, 
He Wisdom was the Father's dear delight 
Before the base of universe was laid, 
While His delights were with the sons of men ; 
And 'twas this glory He awhile laid by, 
W^hen He became a sojourner on earth, 
To gain it back more fully, (as in nought 
Predestinative then,) when He arose 
Triumphant from the grave, a perfect man, 
(The first of all the perfect ones,) of whom 
Adam Himself was but a type, — the bright* 
The lasting image of the Deity, 
And Lord of All. 

He constituted, then, 
The ages :* 'twas from Him Duration sprang; 
Duration, daughter of Eternity, 
Mother of Time, for then a point was form'd 

* The literal meaning of the words (Heb. i. 2.) which are 
translated, " he made the worlds/' is, " he constituted the ages- 



BOOK IX.] the deity. 229 

In the unknown interminable now, 

The unenduring life of Deity, 

Whence Computation might her dates commence, 

And History start ; while rose the brilliant Sun 

Of immortality, upon a dread 

And shoreless vast ; arose to set no more 

For ever. And in Him, as in a glass, 

The lengthen'd march of revelation, then* 

The Father view'd on from creation's rise 

Through the whole range of everlasting years. 

All things He made. From Him Angelic hosts 
Receiv'd their being j and, rebelling 'gainst 
His sovereignty, (perchance because apprised 
That One made lower than themselves should rule, 
Soon as Time's fulness came, and they should bow 
The knee to Him) a portion of them fell 
To utter ruin, to eternal woe. 

The universe of matter, too, He made, 
With all its various tribes. But whether all 
The worlds around are habitations now 
Of reasoning things, like or unlike to us 5 
Or in reserve to be the blest abodes 
Of God's redeem'd, to Him made kings and priests 
For all the universe, when on earth's stage 
The drama of redemption finds its close, 
And falls the curtain o'er the scenes of Time, 
While thousand Hallelujahs ring through heaven, 
Not plain reveal'd, we dare not to affirm ; 



c 23() THE DEITY. [PART III # 

Yet, thus much do we know, He made them all \ 
For ught that is made was without Him made, 
And He is Sovereign of the universe, 
As in His Deity and Christhood, too, 
Its Sovereign and its ever-living Heir. 

All things He made. When in chaotic mass 
The matter whence these various worlds were formed 
Lay shapeless, ere angelic choirs had sung 
Earth's natal day, when will'd the* Eternal Sire 
" Let there be light !" He brought it into birth, 
"And there was light ;'' He made the' outspread heaven. 
With all its orbs ; earth and the foaming sea. 
Being He gave to every living thing, 
From behemoth and huge leviathan, 
With the enormous tanim of the deep, 
E'en to the small ephemera, and those, 
Still smaller, which can only be discerned 
With microscopic aid. He, by His word, 
Arrayed the earth in vegetative green $ 
Raised the tall forests, and the fruitful groves ; 
And strewed the tender grass and kindly herb 
O'er mountain, vale, and plain. And, last of all, 
As the great climax of Creation's work, 
Made man, the image of His glorious self, 
The glowing type of what he was to be, 
The sovereign of the earth -, and all pronounced 
Good. 

Thus created things made manifest 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. 231 

(Though modified in a peculiar way,) 

The skill and wisdom of the Deity, 

His omnipresence and omnipotence ; 

And all the great events, by Time brought forth, 

Kept upon record in the word of truth, 

The fall of man, the punishment of sin, 

Redemption, and the reign of grace and peace, 

Display His every moral attribute 

Illustriously $ while revelations made 

Of things to come, found in that written word, 

Make known His knowledge without bounds, declare 

His perfect prescience, with whom yesterday, 

To-day, for ever, are an endless now. 

And still more manifest omnipotence 

In Him, whose voice is fate, whose will is law. 

Pure as material creature could be formed 
Man came from His Creator's kindly hand, 
Endowed with physical and moral powers, 
With wondrous intellectual faculties, 
And with a will free as the new-born winds, 
That wafted up the sweets of Eden's flowers, 
In fragrant incense to the throne of heaven . 
To him was given dominion ; on his head 
A crown of glory placed, and, to his nod, 
Earth, with her numerous hordes of creatures bowed 
Obedient. But perfect righteousness 
Was the fair sceptre of his kingly hand ; 
And when that lovely sceptre snapped in twain 



C 232 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Prone in the dust his boasted glory fell, 
And with it fell his empire. Liberty, 
That precious gift of his great Maker's love, 
Unblest with which he never could have been. 
As was ordained, His image on the earth, 
Abused, became his ruin. Small, indeed, 
The test of his obedience was $ and large 
The* estate which he for that small tribute held 5 
But yet he disobeyed, and his mad arm, 
(Fired by a hope the Tempter had infused 
With subtle arts, of lifting up himself 
Above the level of mere creatureship,) 
Raised in rebellion 'gainst his sov reign Lord, 
His God, his king, his friend, who could alone 
Sustain him in the mutability 
By nature his, and whose perpetual claim, 
As Maker, on the being He had formed, 
Was the full glory all his powers could give. 
He disobeyed ; and, disobeying, fell -, 
And, falling, he became the slave of sin, 
Which, like the anaconda, crushes all 
Who come within its dreadful fold ; of sin, 
That moral pestilence, which widely spreads 
Its noxious, its infectious vapours round, 
Empoisoning the breath of life 5 — of sin, 
That robbed him of his pristine glory, stole 
His crown away, enervated his arm, 
Once mighty 3— of communion with God 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. C Z33 

Deprived his soul, destroyed the harmony 
Of the creation, placed beneath his rule 
(His empire fair), and with destructive hand, 
Hurl'd in the cold embraces of the grave. 

Could God, who is of eyes too pure to look 
Upon transgression with allowance, now 
Smile on his new-made creature ? Could He lay 
His purity aside, break the bright rod 
Of justice, and, with open arms, embrace 
An ingrate rebel ? No ! His word is pledged, 
" The day thou eatest, dying thou shalt die," 
Or, shalt become a dying, mortal thing, 
No more the image of thy Maker God, 
Nor undisputed sov'reign of the earth. 
And truth and justice both demand the doom % 
While purity starts backward with a blush 
Of horror. But there's another voice, 
The voice of Love, that pleads for mercy still. 
And in Redemption's plan now reconciled, 
And manifested, too, in such a way 
As never could have been without the fall 
And the Redemption too : — at once we view 
Love, mercy, justice, purity, grace, truth, 
Goodness, long-suffering, patience, equity. 
With every other attribute of God, 
If other attributes there are, which make 
His moral being perfect. 

Nor was God 



234 THE DEITY. / [PART III. 

Thwarted in His designs by Adam's fall ; 

Or baffled by the entering-in of sin 

'Mongst His material creatures -, for although 

The act of disobedience was his own, 

(Not forc'd to sin by Heaven's decree), the Fall 

Open'd a path for mercy $ shew'd the way 

For a redemption, for the lifting up 

Of Christ on high, and form'd a glorious base 

For His bright throne to rest on. God is Just, 

But God is merciful, and " God is Love/' 

And justice, love, and mercy here unite, 

To save the sinner man. 

And scarce had fall'n 
Our parents from their primal purity, 
And, filFd with guilty terror, skulk'd behind 
The bushes of their paradise, to hide 
From the observance of that Eye which erst 
They knew could see in darkness as in light, 
Ere love, that caught within its mighty arms 
The headlong tumbling ruin ; and upheld 
Till He, the' Anointed One, came down to earth, 
To raise it in its glory up again ; 
Descended, swifter than the course of light, 
And to the hapless pair made known the way 
Of safety 5 — loud proclaiming in their ears, 
And in the* astonish'd ears of baffled hell, 
The glad news that a Saviour should arise 5 
That they should have perfection yet again, 
For woman's seed should bruise the serpent's head. 



BOOK IX. J THE DEITY. 235 

Then, instituting sacrifice, to point 

To that one great vicarious Sacrifice 

Which should, ere long, be made for human crime 3 

He cloth'd them in the bleeding victim's skins, 

To typify the glorious righteousness 

Which Christ should put upon them. 

The young lamb 
Which Abel on the altar offer'd up, 
But typified that Lamb of God ; and, through 
The line of patriarchs, His priests by birth, 
Devolve it unto each to teach his race 
Jehovah's worship 3 and, with Faith's clear eye, 
Bid them look up to Him that was to come, 
To save them from the curse. But, born in sin, 
Conceiv'd and shapen in iniquity, 
The name of God grew hateful in their ears. 
And though His Spirit in His prophets then 
Strove hard with infidelity, (as now 
'Tis ours to strive, in whom that Spirit dwells,) 
Despising all the threaten ings of His wrath, 
They bearded Him who made them 3 while the few 
Whom grace supported stedfast to the last, 
Their scorn, alone among their brethren left 
The testimony that they walk'd with God. 

Thinner and thinner waned the church ; the world 
Grew riper for destruction. God was rnock'd 
In His own temples 3 Drunkenness fill'd up 
The wine-cup of her madness 3 Folly rav'd 



236 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

To make herself the jest of fools ; Science, 

And transmigration, and eternal sleep, 

Dream'd, till her brain was turn'd ; iniquity 

Was rife, and infidelity wax'd strong, 

When the last scion of the race of God, 

For condemnation of the world that was, 

The son of Lamech rose 3 and in their ears 

Denounced the universal doom, if not 

Averted by repentance unto life. [more 

In vain. They mock'd, and scorn'd, and seoff'd the 

And in their wisdom huddling themselves up, 

Smiled at the man, whom faith had bade provide 

Against the storm of vengeance gathering round $ 

Until that storm of vengeance burst at last, 

And the whole earth lay buried in the wave* 

Yes, there was laughter and rejoicing then, 
Mirth and the voice of singing ; marriage feasts 
And marriage dances gladdened the young heart $ 
And the full bosom of hilarity 
Looked for long seasons of unbroken peace. 
And there were shrewd philosophers, I ween, 
Who tried the threat of judgment ; weigh'd it well, 
And weigh'd it yet again, until they prov'd 
To demonstration that it could not be ; 
And others, too, derided the old man, 
Who spent his substance and his time to build 
The heaven-appointed vessel, which should keep 
Each race alive, when what impending now 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. 237 

Fill'd heaven's black womb, should drench the fated 
Deeming him fool, or madman: these, perchance, [earth 
Might shake their sides with laughter, as it rose, 
Heaven's witness 'gainst their folly, to the skies, 
Nor ope'd their eyes until the waters came. 
And thus it is e'en now ; and must remain 
Till He that will come shall come. To fulfil 
The word of lasting truth, there needs must be, 
Who cry, " All things continue as they were, 
Since the sires fell asleep, and where is now 
The promise of His coming ?" who, if told, 
'Tis still on record in the Word of God, 
And shall, ere long, be faithfully fulfill'd, 
Will rail at us as then they rail'd at him ; 
Deem us such madmen as he once was deem'd, 
And laugh, and sing, and dance their giddy round, 
Until the threaten^ judgment thunders down. 

The windows of the heaven were open'd wide ; 
The fountains of the deep were broken up -, 
And forty days and forty nights the earth 
Buried in baptism lay ; while Noah rode 
Securely on the bosom of the wave, 
E'en as in Christ the true believer rides 
Triumphantly upon Life's boisterous seas ; 
But, at Jehovah's high command, the flood 
Subsided, and the open'd ark restor'd 
Their living things to mountains, groves, and vales 3 
While o'er the patriarch's head the bow of heaven 



238 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Stretch'd its triumphal arch of sevenfold hues, 
The symbol of God's covenant with him, 
That earth should wear a watery robe no more. 

A little while, by his immediate race, 
A purer form of worship was maintain'd -, 
But soon (the flood lost sight of) man again 
Forgot the God that made him ; who again 
ReveaFd Himself unto His chosen ones 
At sundry times, and instituted rites 
And ceremonies, which might shadow forth 
The wonders of Redemption, and that rest 
Which in reversion for His people stood, 
When all their toils were past, and sin and death 
For ever were cast out. 

Him, Abraham, 
The father of the faithful, hearing, went 
Whithersoe'er he led hirn : and receiv'd 
The promise of that land, which typified 
The saints' delightful home ; and with it, too, 
Receiv'd the promise of the Man, the Seed, 
The God Incarnate, the Anointed One, 
Who should all nations bless. By faith he liv'd, 
In faith he died -, and though possessing not 
A tithe of his inheritance, believed 
The promise that Jehovah made ; and look'd 
For its fulfilment in his race unborn. 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. 239 

To Jacob, after Isaac, God renewed 
The promises $ and, when His providence, 
To prove them, and shew forth His mighty power 
Among the nations who forgot His name, 
His children into Egypt led, where long 
They groaned in iron bondage, 'neath the sway 
Of her stern king, He ever bore in mind 
The covenant He had made with Abraham, 
And, raising up a Moses, stood to him 
Revealed in Horeb, in a burning bush, 
Burning, but not consumed. 

Him sent He forth 
To Pharaoh's court, demanding from His hands 
The people he unjustly had enslaved. 
But vainly ; to the hardness of his heart 
Given up, to shew the power of Godhead forth, 
The stubborn king refused to let them go, 
Until his waters into blood were turned, 
His cattle by a pestilence devoured, 
And frogs, lice, locusts, flies, hail, darkness, death, 
Made manifest the might of Israel's God. 

Then, with a high hand and an outstretched arm, 
Jehovah led them forward with much spoil, 
To the seas' borders, while the vexed chief, 
To madness stung, the more enraged to think 
His foe so feeble, — started up in wrath, 
Resolv'd to overtake and re-enslave 5 



240 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

And, calling out his chariots and his hosts, 
In full pursuit career'd. 

'Twas night: the sun 
Had gone to rest; the unsuspecting waves 
Were sporting with each other on the shore ; 
And not one portent of a change was there ; 
When Moses on the beach stretch'd forth his rod, 
And suddenly a wondrous chasm appear'd ; 
Cleft were the waters 3 and the deep stood forth 
In open view, while those were as a wall 
On either side the Israelitish host, 
Who pass'd o'er dry-shod. But, not all the power 
Display'd in this stupendous miracle 
Could check the monarch's fury. On he rush'd 
Still to destruction, though in his proud heart 
Intending only to destroy. For God 
Look'd from the pillar of the cloud and fire, 
Discomfiting upon the' Egyptian bands, 
And made their chariot wheels drag heavily, 
'Till on the farther shore His chosen ones 
In safety had arrived. Then yet again, 
Their prophet, standing on its verge, stretch'd forth 
His rod, and, its wide open'd jaws, the sea 
Clos'd on its prey; and chariots, charioteers, 
Horses, and riders, swallow'd with a growl ; 
While thus the race redeem'd exulting sang : 

" Sing to the Lord ! for He hath triumph'd, He 
Hath triumph'd gloriously $ and in the deeps 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. 241 

The horse and rider flung. He is our strength, 

And He our song ; He also hath become 

Our high salvation 3 He is God, and we 

Will build a habitation for His praise \ 

Our father's God, and we'll exalt His name. 

The Lord, the Lord, hath triumphed gloriously, 

And in the deeps the horse and rider flung. 

God is a man of war 3 Jehovah is 

His name. He, Pharoah's chariots and his hosts 

Has cast into the sea 3 his chosen ones 

Are in the Red Sea drown'd. The depths, the depths 

Have cover'd them ; they, as a stone, sank down 

Unto the bottom. God hath triumph'd, He 

Hath triumph'd gloriously 3 and in the deeps 

The horse and rider flung. — Thy hand, oh Lord ! 

Is now become all-glorious in its power 3 

Thy right hand hath in pieces dash'd the foe 5 

And, in the greatness of Thine excellence, 

Them that against Thee rose hast Thou o'erthrown, 

Thou sentest forth Thy dread resistless wrath, 

Consuming them as stubble. With Thy breath 

The waters were together blown 3 the floods 

Stood upright as a heap 3 in ocean's heart 

Congeal'd. The foe exclaim'd "I will pursue, 

I'll overtake, I will divide the spoil 3 

Upon them shall my lust be satisfied 3 

I'll draw my sword, and with my hand destroy." 

But with Thy wind Thou blewest, and the sea 

M 



242 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Came over them 3 they sank, they sank as lead 
Deep in the mighty waters. Who is like 
To Thee, O Lord, among the Gods ? who like 
Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful 
In praises, doing wonders ? Thee we praise ; 
For Thou, oh Lord ! hast triumph'd gloriously, 
And in the deeps the horse and rider flung." 

Ere long the King of kings, the God, the Christ, 
Decended upon Sinai's flaming top, 
Begirt with thunders, while the lightning's curve 
Serv'd as a braiding to His robe of cloud. 
And there, on stone engrav'd, to Moses gave 
A perfect transcript of His mind and will, 
In the ten statutes of the moral law : 
Given only to be broken, — as, in type, 
The prophet brake the massive tablets then, 
When, on descending from the mount, he saw 
His people's infamous idolatry ; 
Given to be broken, that mankind might see 
The weakness of the flesh j all mouths be stopp'd, 
And all the world stand guilty before God 5 
Given only to be broken, 'till engrav'd 
Upon the tablets of the heart of Him, 
The Law-fulfiller ; Him, the way, the truth, 
The life of holiness, the very strength 
Of moral excellence 3 the fountain-spring 
Of goodness, whence all creatures their's receive. 

For forty years, to try and prove their hearts, 



BOOK IX.] THE DEITY. - -1 • 

Jehovah led His people round about, 
Amid the wilds of Araby, (by day 
A pillar of thick cloud, by night, of fire, 
The token of His presence, which the hosts 
Followed :) and numerous ceremonial rites 
Appointed there, to guide His church elect 
To the realities of Gospel days. 
But to the borders of the promis'd land 
At length they came 3 and Joshua there beheld 
His God, the Angel of the Covenant, 
ReveaFd as Captain of the hosts, that march'd 
Against the heathen Canaanitish kings ; 
Type of that judgment which He, too, will bring 
On the throng'd hosts of this apostate earth, 
When the great day of tardy vengeance dawns. 
And when that hero before Israel cried 
" Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon, and thou, Moon, 
In Ajalon/' He, in its full career, 
Stopt the revolving earth, to which He gave 
Its force projectile, and could rule at will. 
Fix'd in their heritage, to Jacob's race 
The revelation of His mind and will 
The ''Anointed One committed, owning them 
As His peculiar people, punishing 
All their departures, and rewarding all 
Their worship 5 in the tabernacle first, 
Then in the house erected to His name, 
A dazzling blaze of uncreated light, 



r 244 THE DEITY. [PART 

Speaking His special presence who doth dwell 
In light to mortals inaccessible, 
And by His word first called material light 
To being. 

Through a lengthen'd train of years 
He there asserted His Omnipotence 
Among the nations, Gods before Him fell, 
And armies. One a thousand chased, and two 
Ten thousand put to flight. And myriads fell 
By His own hand ; as once Assyria knew, 
When round Jerusalem her legions lay, 
Bidding defiance to the Lord her God, 
And. sudden in the night, as Samiel's blast, 
Destruction breath'd upon the slumbering bands, 
And turn'd their calm sleep to the sleep of death. 

Thence to the chiefest cities of the earth, 
(Whose armies as a scourge Jehovah brought 
To punish their iniquities) His name 
Was carried forth, 'till half the lands had heard 
The fame of Israel's God ; and from their harps, 
Catching the lofty strains of prophecy, 
The heathen poets sang of Gospel days, 
And days Millenial, as the reign of peace, 
The restoration of the golden age ; 
And told their children of the coming Christ. 
For He it was of whom the prophets spake, 
Taught, by His Spirit, things to come. His birth 
In humble guise, incarnate for our sin : 



BOOK 1X.1 THE DEITY. 245 

His life, His sufferings, death, and glorious reign, 
Formed all the burden of their songs, those songs 

iich ever were the hope of Israel. 

And still those songs were heard, and still they gave 
Hope, joy, and comfort, 'midst vicissitudes 
Heart-rending to the hopeful, hapless race. 
Almost forsaken of their God for sin. 
To other nations yielded up a prey ; 
Till on her bosom the astonished earth 
Beheld her great Creator veil'd in flesh, 
And angels sung the natal day of Christ • 
Who, when the fane of human holiness 
Was tumbling headlong down the precipice* 
When not a mortal arm had power to save, 
Nor could ten thousand angel-hands sustain, 
Descended from His high and lofty throne, 
Put his broad ee shoulder" to the rushing ruin, 
And lifted it into eternal rest. 



Zyr, OF THE NINTH BOOK, 



THE DEITY. 



BOOK X. 



ARGUMENT. 



God incarnate, or the Birth, Life, Sufferings, Death, Resurrec- 
tion, and Ascension of Christ, 



BOOK X. 



The glorious morn is come ! the severity weeks 
Of Daniel are accomplished.— Wake !— awake, 
Maidens of Solyma, awake the song 
Of joys divine ! wake the glad strain which once 
Isaiah sang, " To us a child is born ; 

^To us a son is given 3 his name shall be 
Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, 
The Everlasting Father, and the Prince 
Of Peace :" on Him the government shall rest : 
Nor shall his blest dominion have an end, 
Upon the throne of the Beloved One. 

Immanuel ! — Mountains, break forth in songs ! 

m 5 



250 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Dance, little hills ! ye fruitful groves, rejoice ! 
And let the valleys laugh. Immanuel ! 
Sing, deserts, sing! waste places of the earth, 
Burst into rapturous strains. Immanuel ! 
Archangels sound His praises : join their lays 
The' immortal choirs who sing to Gabriel's lyre. 
Heaven bursts with wonder at the sight 3 let earth 
The admiration join, and every rank 
In all creation gaze with new surprise, 
As man, exulting, cries, " See God with us !" 

But who believeth the report ? to whom 
Is the Lord's mighty arm reveal'd ? He hath 
Grown up before Him as a tender plant, 
And as a root out of a barren ground : 
There is no form nor comeliness in Him ; 
Nor hath He beauty in Him 5 that, when seen 
We should desire Him 3 for His face is marr'd 
Above the sons of men. He is despised 3 
And meets rejection : one of many woes 3 
Well known to grief 3 and, as it were, we hid 
Our faces from Him. He was much despis'd, 
And we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath 
Our sorrows borne, and carried all our grief 3 
Yet we esteem'd Him smitten of His God, 
Stricken, afflicted. But His wounds were made 
For our transgressions : He was deeply bruis'd 
For our iniquities 3 the chastisement 
Of our peace was on Him 3 and by His stripes 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 2ol 

We're heal'd. All we, like sheep, have gone astray 5 
Each, wandering from the fold, has wildly turn'd 
To His own path ; and God hath laid on Him 
The' iniquity of all. He was oppress' d ; 
And sore afflicted 5 yet he opened not 
His mouth, nor at His sufferings repin'd. 
He, as a lamb, w T as to the slaughter led ; 
And like a sheep^ before her shearers dumb, 
He opened not his mouth. He was led forth 
From prison and from judgment : and what tongue 
Shall tell His generation ? reft of life 
To purchase life for us ! 

Incarnate God ! 
Wonder, oh heavens ! and be astonished, earth ! 
Yet wherefore marvel ? 'twas for this high end 
He made you ! 'twas but to reveal Himself, 
(Him, Wisdom, Power, and Goodness infinite.) 
He laid His Godhead-glory by, and took 
The Chris thood up ; it was that He might shew 
The glory of the Godhead forth ; — might form 
A finite universe, to manifest 
The great perfections of the Deity 
Moral and natural, redeem from death 
A church to shew His praise ; and thus Himself 
Unite the bounded to the Infinite, 
And stand for ever a connecting link 
'Twixt God and Nature. Ocean of deep thought 
From which so many million souls have quaff'd, 



252 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

And left Thee full ! Ocean of thought ! whose springs 

Su pply the' innumerous streams of intellect 

That wander through the universal whole ; 

Here might'st thou pour thy very fulness forth, 

And find thyself exhausted. Godhead veil'd 

In Christhood, Christhood in humanity, 

To work out man's redemption ! the big theme 

Demands an angel's harp, but oh ! what harp 

Of angel can awake the lofty strain ? 

None, none. 'Tis man's to sing the love of God ; 

To sing the wonders of redeeming love ; 

To sing the virtue of the blood of Christ • 

And in the hymn before the' Eternal Throne, 

When angels pause at " Worthy is the lamb/' 

Subjoin the sweetest notes, " Who died for us ! " 

A smiling babe in Bethlehem's manger laid, 
To show how low He'll stoop to snatch His bride, 
His favour'd bride, the church elect, from hell, 
Behold the Christ, the Uncreated Word, 
Now Jesus, for His great salvation styl'd ; 
Yes, he who fills immensity- — He who 
Is with eternity coeval ; He 
The Father of Duration, He is born ! 
(Anomaly of all anomalies !) 
Of woman born ; and, helpless on her breast 
Hanging, declares how deep the fall of man, 
Who, from perfection into helplessness, 
Fell by one act of folly. He who brought 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 253 

Creation into being; He who gave 

Suns light, seas bound, planets projectile force 

And gravitation, and with mighty hand 

Hurl'd the swift comet in its orbit ; He [spreads 

Whose smile is heaven, whose frown thick darkness 

Around ; the flashing of whose eyes in wrath 

Enkindles hell ; He sucks a virgin's breast ; 

Draws nutriment from one to whom He gave 

Life, and from whom He drew His life in turn ; 

Tangles his helpless fingers in her hair ; 

And back reflects the fondness of her smiles. 

Oh deep descent of love, of love divine ! 

He laid not hold of angels when they fell, 

But twin'd round manhood His almighty arms; 

Hence bore it perfect to the heaven of heavens, 

And fix'd it on the throne. 

Incarnate God ! 
O mystery of mysteries ! what tongue 
Shall tell thy wonders ? who can tell the' extent 
Of love divine, that brought the' Eternal down, 
To creature bounds, to bleed and die for man r 
Who tell the' extent of love in Him whose name 
Is Love ? Unceasing, everlasting song's, 
Shall raise their notes mellifluent, and harps, 
Immortal harps, shall wake the high response 
In vain. The Deity in Christ, and Christ 
Barr'd in the dungeon of humanity, 
Shall furnish still for song, height above height, 



254 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Depth beneath depth, expanse beyond expanse. 

The setting sun behind Judea's hills 
Hid his fair face j and veil'd his golden beams 
With crimson clouds, as blushing that a light 
Without his aid would soon shine brightly there, 
Passing his own rich lustre 5 and yet seem'd 
Slowly to move, as though he long'd to stay 
And view that sight, most marvellous of all 
Duration's lengthful records can unfold, 
A Deity's nativity 3 and wept 
Electric fluid on the heaving breast 
Of Atalantis, as it rose to greet 
His near approach, that this their meeting hour 
Was come ere young Messiah's birth. 

'Twas night : 
Jordan was rolling his black waves along, 
And pouring forth a vesper hymn of praise 5 
And darkness o'er the towers of Bethlehem 
Hung like a mossy covering, — It was night ; 
The hopeful shepherds tended in the fields 
Their fleecy charge ! when sudden o'er the heaven 
A blaze of radiance spread 5 not such a light 
As flings itself athwart the northern sky, 
When half-year winter-night exulting sits 
On his dark throne, and freezes with his frown 
The very vitals of the earth and sea ; 
But such as shone between the cherubim 
Ere Salem was forsaken of her God, 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 255 

They stood affrighted ; when before their eyes 

The glorious angel of the Lord appear'd, 

And thus exclaim'd, " Fear not,, I bring you news 

Of lasting joy to all the tribes of earth, 

For unto you in David's city now 

Is born a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord j 

And in a manger, w T rapt in swaddling clothes, 

The young Redeemer rests." He ceas'd 3 and now, 

Quick as the marshalling of Night's bright host 

Succeeds the' appearance of the evening star, 

A countless multitude of shining ones 

Stood round about him ; and attun'd their harps 

To raise an anthem in Jehovah's praise. 

" Glory to God," rang through the upper heaven ; 

" Glory to God," the middle skies replied ; 

" Glory to God," the earth responded loud ; 

And thunder' d like an organ's deepest notes, 

The swelling bass of the extatic song, 

" Peace and good will towards men." 

The vision past; 
To Bethlehem hied the rustic train to greet 
The Virgin's Son, where eastern priests appeared 
With gifts and homage (by a meteor led) 
To hail the new-born King. But what a throne, 
And what a palace ! wonder, O my soul, 
Now lose thyself in wonder ! — Ah ! is this 
The best reception that a God in flesh 
Can find from man He comes to save ? Is this 



256 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

The gorgeous cradle of the' Eternal One, 
Before whom angels bow ? A manger, where 
The oxen feed ! O love divine! He stoops 
To vanquish ; 'tis the chariot in which 
HE first to battle flies who on a cross 
Shall raise the shout of victory ! 

Awake 
Jerusalem ! bow down, ye temple towers ! 
Bow, Calvary ! Moria, Zion, bow 
Before the Lord of hosts ! Behold your God 
Borne by His mother to redeem His life 
With spotless doves ; the very life He took 
To save His people from their sins, and bring 
Peace to unhappy rebels. — But they know 
Him not beneath the deep disguise He wears, 
So thick the veil that wraps His glory round, 
And, unattended, is the King of kings 
Carried to his own temple, that the law 
In all its rites may be fulfill'd. Yet not 
To all is He unknown, — supreme delight 
Thrills through old Anna's breast ; and Simeon's arms 
Twine round the infant with ecstatic joy, 
As thus he cries : " I bless Thee, O my God 3 
Now lettest Thou Thy servant die in peace, 
For Thy salvation have mine eyes beheld." 
And, like imprison'd air when rarifled, 
His soul, expanded by too large a joy, 
Burst the weak frame of frail mortality, 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 25/ 

And mounted to its God. 

But hark ! what groans 
Salute my ear ? what piercing shrieks are those 
Of horror and despair ? whence comes that voice 
Of wailing ? Tis from Bethlehem 5 hell-urged, 
The sov'reign of Judea seeks to slake 
His fiaming wrath at young Messiah's birth, 
In infant blood ; and all the city mourns. 
How vainly man, how vainly Satan, strives 
To baffle God's decrees, and bring to nought 
The counsels of eternity. By heaven 
Warn'd in a dream, His foster-father bore 
The young Immanuel from tyrannic rage. 
To Egypt, where he rested till the death 
Of Herod 3 then return'd to Galilee, 
And dwelt at Nazareth. The child grew up 
In stature and in favour, giving signs 
Of early wisdom, when at twelve years old 
Disputing with the doctors of the law ; 
And through his youth strong indications shew'cl 
Of being more than human. As a son 
Of man, he all the offices performed 
Devolving on man's children : — as a God, 
Emptied* Himself, and for our sakes became 

* This passage has caused some disputes among theologians. 
Our translators, perhaps to avoid those disputes, have rendered it 
" humbled himself;" but I have chosen u emptied himself," be- 
cause it is the literal meaning of the Greek word ekeno.se ; since 



258 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Of no repute : — as a Redeemer, kept 

The law that man had broken, doing all 

He did unto God's glory : — and as Christ, 

The Head and Heir of nature, now but as 

In His minority, and serving like 

A Jacob for his bride, kept His firm eye 

Fix'd on His crown, and, with unwavering faith, 

Look'd to the' Eternal Father to fulfil 

The promises. 

Time roll'd along : the voice 
Of one cried in the wilderness, " Repent, 
Heaven's kingdom is at hand ; prepare the way, 
Through deserts make a highway for our God." 
The hour predestinated came ; and down 
To Jordan hasten' d the Incarnate Word, 
At John the Baptist's hands to' receive the seal 
Of the new covenant 5 symbolical 
Of what He purchased for His chosen race — 
A heart renew'd — a resurrection life. 
se Thus it becomes us," He exclaim'd, " to do 
All righteousness," and waters of the stream 
Of judgment* wash'd His flesh 5 while from on high 
The Holy Ghost, in likeness of a dove, 
Descended on Him 5 and a wondrous voice 

though man may mistake the meaning of the phrase, and build 
erroneous systems upon it, the literal word of God must be rig-lit. 

* The meaning of the word Jordan is death or judgment. 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 259 

That rent the firmament, proclaim'd Him loud — 
The Son beloved of the living God. 

Full of the Spirit, to a desert's gloom, 
The Saviour sped to battle with the foe, 
And gain for man the victory. Forty days 
And forty nights He braved the fierce assaults 
Of hell 3 and prov'd Himself immaculate $ 
From the stern mountain's lofty height, and from 
The temple's pinnacle look'd down with scorn 
On the false glitter of a falser world 
Then proffer'd Him, which in the balance weigh'd 
With man's redemption, and his coming crown, 
Seem'd lighter than the breath of vanity : 
And, spent with famine and oppressed with care, 
Still from His presence He the traitor spurn'd, 
And more than conqueror walk'd thro' all his snares. 

His ministry begun, in divers ways 
He prov'd Himself the woman's promised seed, 
The King that was to come, creation's Lord. 
Water, as " blushing to behold its God/' 
Turn'd into wine ; by Him vast multitudes 
Were fed by miracle 5 at His command 
The leper white as snow was cleans'd — the blind 
Open'd their eyes to see the light of day, — [clar'd 
The stammerer's tongue was loos'd, — the dumb de- 
Their great Redeemer's praise,— the impotent, 
Restor'd, felt youthful vigour, — and the lame 
Leap'd light and joyous as the bounding hart, 



#60 THE DEITY. [PART II 

He spake — the lurking fever dried no more 

The grateful lips : nor at its cistern boiled 

The vital flood, — pale sickness rose in health, — 

Diseases fled before Him, — and the poor 

Demoniac, releas'd, came forth with joy 

To praise and bless his Saviour's mighty name. 

The conscious sea upbore Him as He mov'd 

Upon its surface ; * and the' adoring waves 

Kiss'd their Creator's feet with rapturous joy. 

The elements, that in the tempest's hour 

Commingling, breathed discordant, jarring sounds, 

At His rebuke in placid calmness sunk ; 

As though they had but raged in hope to hear 

The music of His voice. And Death itself, 

When He demanded, yielded up his prey, 

And lick'd his disappointed jaws in vain. 

These, these are acts attested well, whose truth 

Declares the power of Deity, as plain 

As that dread voice which from the opening heaven 

Loud thunder'd, " This is my beloved Son, 

Hear Him ! " 

Nor should His golden precepts pass 
Unheeded. Hear Him, mortals ! from His lips 
Wisdom itself, dissolved in words of love, 
Continually flow'd. Hear Him educe 
The spirit from the letter of the law, 
And charge sin home upon the will deprav'd. 
Hear Him declare that all are fall'n, and must 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 961 

Be born again to win eternal life : 

Born of the Spirit and of water ; born 

Children of God with hearts of purity, 

Whose vital breath is love. Hear Him declare 

His mission from the Father's bosom was 

To seek and save the lost 5 that none who feel 

Their need of Him, and, helpless, come for aid, 

Shall ever be cast out. Hear Him declare 

Himself the way, the truth, the life 5 the way 

In which alone true holiness is found; 

The only way acceptable in which 

A sinner can approach the Holy One. 

The truth, in whom God's image may be seen 

Perfect ; upon whose heart the moral law 

Is graven ; and to whom all rituals point. 

The life of Nature, and the double life 

Of His poor fallen bride. Hear Kim declare 

That he who hath the Son of God hath life : 

Who hath Him not hath not life 3 but the wrath 

Of God upon him rests. Hear Him declare 

That they who wish His kingdom to obtain 

Must do His Father's will, whose high commands 

Are to believe on Him whom He hath sent, 

And love His followers. Hear Him declare 

That who abideth in Him as a branch 

Abideth in the vine shall bring forth fruit 

Abundantly 3 and, though themselves but weak, 

Do ail things in His strength. Hear Him declare. 



262 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

He pays His life a ransom for His sheep, 

Whose life, with all its joys springs from His death 

And none shall pluck them from His hand. Hear Him 

Denounce heaven's judgment on Jerusalem, 

And yet with tears denounce it, as, in thought, 

He sees the Romans making desolate 

Those cities, once so favour'd of the Lord. 

Then hear Him say, " The foxes have their holes, 

And birds of air their nests, but I have not 

A place to rest my head on." 

Woe, deep woe, 
Was His continual lot, and His chief food 
The bread of tears. For, though, across His soul 
At times would dart a feeble glimpse of joy, 
Like transient sunbeams o'er a clouded heaven, 
As when, with exultation, He beheld 
Satan, like lightning, falling from the skies -, 
He was a man of sorrows, while on earth 
He wander'd, though to earth belonging not. 
A self-devoted pilgrim, doing good, 
And glorifying God : His wondrous works 
Declared His errand $ yet He scarcely met 
With aught but malice and ingratitude, 
From those He came to save. Still He pursued 
His path without repining 3 and endur'd 
As seeing Him who is invisible; 

Whom He had seen, from whom He came, and knew 
His love so boundless, shoreless, bottomless, 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 263 

Would hold Him to the last, and through the grave 

Bring Him forth more than conq'ror. Thus He liv'd, 

A dying life of living faith ; and set 

Us the example by His grace to die 

Daily, and offer up ourselves to Him, 

As He for our sakes offer'd up Himself 

A sacrifice to God. 

The world was lost ; 
The sheep were wandering from the fold; the foe 
Was prowling round, and no protector near, 
When, swift descending on sweet Mercy's wings, 
He girt upon His loins His shepherd's coat, 
And gat Him to the mountains 5 through the heat 
Of summer days, and through the bitter cold 
Of wintry nights, unflinchingly He toil'd, 
To keep them safe from all approaching harm ; 
Then cast Himself into the monster's jaws, 
To tear his vitals out, and save the flock 
He lov'd with love in strength surpassing death. 

The time of the Redeemer's sojourn here, 
To bear the sorrows of poor fallen man, 
Fulfil and magnify the moral law, 
Spread round salvation's news, and prove Himself, 
By mighty signs and wonders, Hm whom God 
Had promised to the patriarchs of old, 
At length drew towards its close. The hungry grave, 
Depriv'd of much provision while He stay'd, 



264 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

More hungry growing, open'd wide her jaws 
To swallow Him ; and look'd with longing eyes 
Upon her destin'd prey, the gorging which 
Should prove her own destruction ; on the mount 
The chosen three the symbol had beheld 
Of His yet coming glory ; and the twelve 
Were looking for His triumph on the earth 3 
While He prepar'd Him for a deeper scene — 
His triumph in earth's bowels. 

'Twas the feast 
Of Passover : when, to the sorrowing hearts 
Of His disciples, Christ made known the things 
Then quickly coming ; open'd up to them 
The secrets of the Deity ; and gave 
The dear, the precious emblems of His death, 
His broken body, and His pour'd-out blood ; 
Ordaining them, till He again should come 
In glory with the myriads of His saints, 
As the memorials of His dying love. 

It was a solemn evening 3 with what love; 
And with what fervour, did He then address 
And pray for them ; His mind appeared as touch'd 
With somewhat of death's sadness 3 but it was 
The grief of joy 5 the bitter of that cup 
To drink of which he left the seats of bliss, 
And, for the joy before him set, endur'd 
The cross — despised the shame — and now sits down 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 265 

At the right hand of Majesty on high. 
It was a solemn evening ; but the night, 
More solemn ! i{ doleful, dark Gethsemane/' 
Thou u olive press" of God ! what tongue can tell, 
What fancy paint, what thou didst then behold, 
When in an agony of soul He prayed ; 
While bloody sweats pour'd dow T n His stricken frame, 
And death enclasped Him to his frozen breast, 
And at His heart the sin of millions lay, 
And all the horrors of a hell within, 
Shook His fair frame convulsive ? But what groans — 
What cries are those ? what sorrows rend the breast 
Of God* so deeply, that He fain would thrust 
The poison cup away ? Speak, ye who dwell 
Before His blissful throne, and joyful raise 
Your hallelujahs to the Lamb ! and ye 
Who here attempt to join the sacred strain, 
Whose hope is in His death, whose hearts are cleansed 
By His shed blood. (i Oh He was wounded deep 
For our transgressions ; He was bruised for us ; 
The chastisement of our eternal peace 
Was laid on Him, and by His stripes we're heai'd." 
Slumber ye, faithless guards ? then slumber on ! 
His hour is come 5 the traitor band draws near $ 

* In this, as well as other expressions, where I have used the 
name of Deity, for the force it carries, I do not mean to imply 
that Deity suffered, but that the breast of Jesus was by hyposta- 
deal union the breast of God. 



%66 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

And with a kiss Messiah is betray'd ; 

The lamb is cast among the wolves ; the kid 

Is in the eagle's nest ; and who shall save ? 

Ah, who ? He others sav'd j but cannot save 

Himself 5 His life is forfeited for them. 

And bearded, moek'd, and scourg'd, and spit upon, 

Behold Almighty God ! Where now are they, 

To whom He late addressed such parting words 

Of tenderness ? Why, Peter, dost thou keep 

At such a distance ? where's the courage fled 

Which prompted thee of late to go with Him 

To prison and to death ? And dost thou too, 

With oaths deny Him ? Hark, the crowing cock ! 

Behold that look ! oh, glory ! it has broke 

The chain of hell ; He weeps ! in anguish weeps ! 

But what new scene of wonder meets my view? 
Is this a hall of judgment ? Can it be ? 
Is it indeed Messiah, that now stands 
Arraigned before a Roman praetor's bar ? 
A purple robe — a reed — a crown of thorns — 
Are these the' insignia of the King of kings ?— 
Are these fit garments for the Prince of Peace, 
Who came to save a ruin'd world from death ? 
Prophet of God ! what say'st thou ? let me read :— 
" He like a lamb was to the slaughter led 5 
And as a sheep, before her shearers dumb, 
He openeth not His mouth ; He was led forth 
From prison and from judgment/' — Hark those shouts: 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 26? 

" Away with him, away with him ! " — " We own 
No king but Caesar ! " — ff Be the cross his doom ! " 
" Release to us, Barabbas ! ** — " Be the cross ! 
The cross his doom ! " — His blood be upon us, 
And on our children ! " 

See, 'tis He ! condemn'd ; 
He climbs the rugged brow of Calvary, 
With heavy, weary steps 5 He's stretch'd upon [there ; 
The cross ! Hark ! hark ! those strokes ; they nail him 
And hangs the Saviour with extended arms — ■ 
Emblem of love's right willingness to receive 
With open arms the trembling penitent,. 
Who feels undone, and flies for refuge there. 
Now triumph hell ! unkennel all thy swarm, 
King of the deep ! to beard the Mighty One, 
Thus impotent. The' astonish'd heavens grow black : 
The sun has weeping turn'd his face away ; 
Deep horror seizes the angelic hosts ; 
And e'en the Uncreated Father hides 5 
Man only is unmov'd, or joins the fiends 
In mocking his Redeemer and his Lord. 
Hark ! hark again ! what sound is that I hear ' 
'Tis the pierc'd Lamb, in agony intense., 
While horror of thick darkness makes his soul 
A chaos, crying loud, " My God ! my God ! 
Ah, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " 'Tis He ! 
It is Messiah ! Patiently he bears 
The insults of the railing crowd 5 pours forth, 



26'S THE DEITY. [PART III. 

While yet 'tis reeking, His atoning blood, 
Into that dying culprit's broken heart, 
Who hangs beside Him ; and in such a voice 
As shakes the adamantine rocks of hell, 
Shouting, " 'TIS FINISHED," lets His spirit go.* 

Amazing scene ! well might the sun, abash'd, 
Veil his bright face in darkness ! well might earth 
Shake to her centre ! well the rending rocks 
Speak out their wonder ! and convulsions tear 
The universal frame ! oh love divine ! 
Oh miracle of love ! oh love of God ! 
How vast ! how wondrous ! passing human thought! 
Scoffer, away to Calvary ! Sceptic, 
Away to Calvary ! there behold a sight 
All else surpassing, to reveal to man 
The Deity's chief attributes 3 there see 
Wisdom unbounded, manifested, fair, 
In the redemption of a ruin'd world ; 
Wisdom that counted up the cost — that seal'd 
The bill before creation, and now pays 
The full price down from the Eternal's veins. 
See mercy, robed in crimson, smiling sweet, 
That now heaven's gates are opened, and that she 
Can, unobstructed, to the human race 

Descend with welcome messages of peace j 

*■ 

* I have chosen this mode of expression rather than any other, 
though some may term it poverty of language, on account of its 
nearness to the original, — " And let go his spirit." 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 269 

While justice shines more radiantly than where 

Its name is character'd in living flame, 

In the dread realms of everlasting woe ; 

While honour lifts unstain'd its lofty head ; 

While purity beholds the law fulnll'd 

By the fond Bridegroom, for the hapless bride; 

And truth sees there the dreadful curse endurYL 

Pronounc'd in Eden, " Dying, shalt thou die 5" 

And see immense, immeasurable love, 

The crowning attribute, the link of all, 

The cement that has thus united them, 

The life-blood of redemption, that flows on 

Through every vein of all the w r ondrous scheme, 

Shine through the death-wounds of Incarnate God. 

Scoffer, away to Calvary ! Sceptic, 

Away to Calvary ! there, there behold 

How T righteousness has kiss'd the lips of peace ; 

And truth and mercy have in union met, 

Embracing in the Saviour's bleeding heart. 

Marvel ! — but marvel not in such degree 

As to conceive the act impossible ; 

Ponder it, analyze it, weigh it well, 

And weigh again, consider all its points, 

With all thy skilfulness ; what doth it, save 

Exalt the moral o'er the physical, 

And shew the moral being of a God 

Perfection, that for sin creation meets 

Inevitable death 5 and to redeem 

From that dread curse, the Maker should assume 



270 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

A human form, and taste death's bitterest pangs, 

Rather than let one moral attribute 

Give way ! Oh sin ! how dreadful thy effects ! 

Oh love divine ! how wonderful are thine ! 

Had universal nature backward slunk, 

Into the barren womb of nothingness ; 

Had light turned darkness, matter chaos wild, 

And order rank confusion, it were nought 

To that stupendous scene, where Godhead died 

" For man, the creature's sin/' Oh love divine ! 

Unchanging, lasting, EVER-lasting love ! 

Wounded and bleeding — triumphing in blood, 

Dying-— endowed with stronger life in death, 

What shall exhaust thy fulness ? Deity 

Itself, in person of the' Eternal Son, 

Was emptied of all else but thee, that thou 

Might'st triumph, but thy fountain still remain'd^ 

And still remains, exhaustless. Love divine ! 

Boundless, immense, immeasurable love ! 

Duration's ceaseless ages still shall own 

Thy heights, thy depths, thy wonders, half untold ; 

Though all the songs of man, from death redeem'd^ 

And all the symphonies of angels' harps, 

Be raised to thy unfailing source and thee ! 

is He dies, he dies a sufferer -, but he dies 
A conqueror too." Captivity is led 
Captive ! The gates of Death and Hades break ; 
And let their now victorious prisoner free. 
(< Oh death ! where is thy sting ? Oh grave ! where is 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 27 1 

Thy victory ? The sting of death is sin ; 

The strength of sin the law ! " The law's fulfili'd, 

And manhood from the gloomy vault comes forth 

Triumphant ! Shout aloud ! shout victory, 

Saints of the living God ! shout victory. 

Ye objects of his love ! Hail Him, hail Him 

With loud hosannas, from the gaping tomb 5 

Whose resurrection is a pledge of yours., [spoil'd 

Who hath giv'n Death his death wound, who hath 

Princedoms and powers-, and made a shew of them 

Openly on his cross ! Hail Him, hail Him 

With loud hosannas, from the gaping tomb, 

And let the heaven with acclamations ring -,— 

The Christ, the Christ hath gained the victory ! 

But where are they who now should hail him ? where 
The chosen few, the favour'd of mankind, 
Who witness'd all the triumphs of his life 3 
And to whose sorrowing hearts, some few nights past, 
His lips declared,— <( A little while, and ye 
Shall see me not 3 and yet a little while, 
And ye shall see me $ and behold I go 
Before you into Galilee ? " Their hopes 
Were blasted $ and their unbelieving hearts^ 
Although the scriptures were fulfill'd,— although 
The things he told them of had come to pass, 
Now gave up all for lost. — Yet, list ! a hum 
Of whisperings on the gale 5 and lip from lip 
Catches the sound, ' c The Lord is risen indeed ; 



272 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

And hath appear'd to Peter ;" and to those 
Who, journeying to Emmaus, felt their hearts 
Burning within them,, as He opened up 
The Scriptures by the way, although unknown 
'Till manifest at length in breaking bread, 
They hail'd their risen Saviour. With what joy 
The glad disciples hear the welcome news ! 
But oh ! how far, far greater is their joy, 
To see the Lord in their assembly come, 
And shew His hands, and feet, and wounded side. 
Jerusalem grows agitated -, the chief priests 
And elders with a flat denial meet 
The hated testimony -, but in vain ! 
The Prince of Life, the Conqueror of Death, 
Before assembled hundreds stands confess'd, 
To shew the truth of His Messiahship ; 
For forty days appears and re-appears, 
At sundry times -, to His disciples gives 
His last directions, to proclaim the news 
Of His salvation to earth's utmost bounds ; 
Then leads them forth to Bethany, and looks 
A kind farewell to their astonish'd hearts, 
As angels flock around Him, to attend 
His glorious passage to His Father's throne. 
He rises ! through the subject elements, 
He rises up on high. Hosanna ! — See, 
Ye gazing saints, the man of many griefs, 
The long despised, rejected Nazarene, 



BOOK X.] THE DEITY. 273 

Ascend ! Hosanna ! — Lift, lift up your heads, 
Ye everlasting gates, throw open wide 
Your pearly portals 5 lo ! the King, the King, 
The King of Glory comes ! God is gone up 5 
Gone for his people to prepare a place, 
And will return to take them to Himself; 
That where He is they also may abide. 
He rises ! through the subject elements, 
He rises up on high, Hosanna ! — God 
Is gone up with a shout 5 Jehovah, with 
A trumpet's sound. Hosanna! — Death, thou rt slain ; 
Grave, thou hast met destruction 5 hell is fill'd 
With notes of wailing, and through all her vaults 
Echoes the cry, "The prisoner is released, — 
Our hopes are foil'd — the Christ, the Christ is gone V' 
He rises 5 through the subject elements, 
He rises up on high : — Hosanna ! — Mounts 
The victor, in His radiant car of cloud, 
Triumphant. Bursts the heaven with rapture now, 
And on, in undulating thunders, rolls 
The chorus of the glad angelic hosts, 
Who strike their harps to new immortal songs, 
And hail the' ascending God, the' ascending man, 
The Bruiser of the dragon's head, the King 
Of kings, and Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace, 
The monarch of creation, — who had left 
His blissful throne, to fold in his embrace 
Unhappy rebels 5 vanquish death and hell 3 

n 5 



274 THE DEITY. [PART II 

And, bursting through the other side the grave, 

Open a way to let its captives free. 

Through heaven the chorus flies 5 while echo sin^s 

Hosanna ! hallelujah ! and to earth 

In softer numbers is the strain returned 

Upon the light wings of a heavenly breeze 

Mellifluent, that, with a kiss of peace, 

Greets her dark heaving bosom, as it pours 

Upon her gales the melody it bore. 

He rises ! through the subject elements, 
He rises up on high. Hosanna ! — Man 
Is free ! sin put away , and peace restored 
To a lost world. With all the spoils of war 
The conqueror in triumph moves along, 
By His glad hosts attended. To the heavens 
He bears the form of being He assum'd 5 
And in the presence of our Sire and His, 
The man Christ Jesus for His people pleads 
His life, His death, His perfect righteousness, 
And His atoning blood ; there now to rest 
Until the times when all things are restored 5 
Till all His enemies at length are made 
His footstool, and the day of vengeance dire, 
The glorious year of His redeem'd is come. 



END OF THE TENTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY 



BOOK XI. 



ARGUMENT. 

During the session of Christ at the Father's right hand. — The 
Manifestation of the Holy Ghost. — Sketch of the History of the 
Church, down to the era of the French Revolution. — The age of 
Warning. — The age of Judgments. — The eve of the Millenium. 



BOOK XL 



Messiah, seated on His Father's throne,— 
Now on the earth, (the gospel spread abroad,) 
Another Person of the Deity, 
Who did in covenant consent to be 
The active agent in renewing man. 
Is manifest 3 communicable God 
The Holy Ghost. He, from the mass of men 
Selects the Church, ordain'd to shew His praise 
Who bought her with His blood, — regenerates 
With power miraculous, — implants new thoughts, 
Affections and desires, — endues with strength 
To overcome the tempter's foul assaults 3 
Scorn the false glitter of a world of sin 3 
And stand as living witnesses for God 



2/8 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Against that wor]d who openly despise, 

To testify the truth, and if need be 

To seal that testimony with their blood : 

Enables them to live a life of faith 

Upon the Son of God ; against all hope 

Still to believe in hope \ in greatest straits 

To trust for sure deliverance ; amidst 

The thickest darkness to look forth for light 5 

And, spite of all the regularity, 

Which in their course material things maintain, 

Still to believe that all will find an end, 

Death yield his prey, and a new heaven and earth 

Forth from the fiery deluge burst to birth, 

In which dwells righteousness ; — and thus equipp'd 

To every warrior a promise gives, 

(Himself the earnest of the' inheritance,) 

That when his battling toils are o'er, and all 

His foes are overcome, he shall at length 

Have everlasting joy. 

But, deeply foiFd, 
Where most he hoped for conquest, in the death 
Of the Messiah, man's arch enemy 
Roar'd like an angry lion for his prey, 
Scattering o'er earth the smitten shepherd's flock 5 
And from the seat of capitolian Jove 
Sent his hot persecuting edicts forth. 
Yes, Rome, the queen of freedom, Rome the seat 
Of theologic liberality, 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 

Who found, in her pantheon, room for all 

The gods of other nations, — when that God 

Was preach'd, who shall at last o'erthrow them all 

And reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords, 

The cloak of toleration cast away, 

Fir'd with satanic zeal, and on his flock 

Like a crouch'd tiger sprung. The name of Christ 

Was as it were destruction's battle- word, 

And death refiVd, and tortures exquisite, 

Became the portion of His faithful few. 

But was that spirit of celestial birth, 
That true begotten of the Holy Ghost, 
Smothered by clods of earth ? destroyed by man ? 
No ! Witness Antipas ! no, witness thou, 
Ignatius ! and fearless Polycarp, 
Witness 'midst blazing fire ! No, witness all 
Ye hosts of martyrs, who have seal'd the truth 
With blood, earth must yet answer for, — shall heaven 
Be overcome by man ? Omnipotence 
Be baffled by a feeble, finite worm, 
To which itself gave life ? Go, quench the sun, 
Proud boaster ! mingle ether with the dust, 
Then with Jehovah, in thy madness, war. 

Forth from the Isle which lifts its chalky cliffs, 
Pride of the free, where Europe's western shore 
Kisses the' Atlantic, starts a warrior king 
Conquering and to conquer. High he lifts 
The banner of the cross \ that ensign brings 



280 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Sure victory 3 opposing hosts give way, 

And idols fall before the God of heaven, 

Till earth's wide empire owns the Saviour's name. 

But with apostate Julian rise again 

The heathen gods ! and God's own children here 

Again are held in scorn 5 till, crush'd at last 

By Theodosius, the pagan power 

Falls to the dust. 

His cloud-enmantled tower 
Of arbitrary force, to atoms dash'd, ; 
Now seeks the wily fiend another way 
Jehovah's earthly kingdom to destroy. 
First, like a spider, from his bowels, weaves 
The subtle snare 3 then with the tempting bait 
Of worldly pomp, and worldly grandeur, lures 
Alas, too surely ! the apostate Church ; 
Till, in the city of his former reign, 
The mystery of darlf iniquity 
He brings to birth with many a labouring pang : 
And (his Melchizedeck) upholds a man 
As God on earth, who through its realms afar 
Sends his anathemas as Lord of All ; 
And with another race of witnesses 
Pampers his master's sateless thirst of blood. 
While in the east, forth from the pit of hell, 
A swarm of locusts rise, spread o'er the earth, 
And wage long warfare with the christian name. 
But times, a time, and half a time roll on, 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 281 

Then comes the age of warning ; such an age, 

The muse would step aside to picture it, 

And though 'tis of the subject somewhat wide, 

Here a digression is allowable, 

Which manifests the rectitude of God 

In his chief judgments on a rebel world. 

First stood the latest form of antichrist, 
Rampant,, hot, scarlet infidelity, 
Teeming with names of blasphemy. On high 
He lifted up his hand in open war 
Against the King of kings 3 but overthrown 
In the mad conflict, for awhile he lay 
Like a coil'd serpent ambush'd in the grass, 
To dart upon his foe at unawares, 
And make the prize secure. 

Still w r ar rais'd high 
His dreadful voice 3 destruction stalk'd abroad 
Through fields of battle 5 and grim horror rode 
Upon the whirlwind's wing ; till the parch'd earth 
Liek'd in her children's blood, like early rain, 
And seem'd to fatten with the luscious draught. 

Then came a time of peace ; alas ! 'twas peace, 
For man was ratifying peace with hell ! 
Oh ! 'twas an awful scene 5 the world was mad -, 
The major part were running to and fro 
With Maniac wildness, calling on the name 
Of Mecca's fam'd imposter 3 or did bow 
Their bodies down to stocks and blocks of stone. 



2,82 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Or shells, or beads, or things of carved work, 

And pray'd to what their own right hands had form'd, 

As they were gods and ruled their destiny. 

And though on every side stood holy men, 

With God's own book in hand, exhorting loud,, 

Inviting, pleading, and admonishing, 

Still they rush'd on as they were blind to death, 

Despising mercy offer'd from on high $ 

And thousands flung them 'neath the chariot wheels 

Of one huge idol, hideous to behold, 

And died exultingly. 'Twas a sad sight 

One scarce could bear to look upon, but turn'd 

To seek for countries where the christain faith 

Had long been 'stablish'd, hoping there to find [there 

Scenes which might stay one's grief ; yet ah ! e'en 

Where great Jehovah's awful name was heard, 

And gospel messages of peace were told, 

Except a few, who were as nought amidst 

The heedless multitudes that flock'd around, 

Man seem'd still deeper in iniquity -, ' 

Well pleas'd to do the drudgery of hell. 

No longer doom'd to hide herself, while shone 
Dav's brilliant orb, and skulk about the streets 
Of the throng' d city in the noon of night, 
When savage beasts are prowling round for prey, 
Vice stalk' d abroad unsham'd, sometimes y'clad 
In meek religion's saintly garb, sometimes 
Deck'd in the robe of pleasure, with her long 



BOOK XI. 1 THE DEITY. 283 

And flowing hair broider'd with choicest flowers, 
Her bosom set with roses, and her eyes 
Array'd in smiles to hide her heart's deep pangs 3 
Xor seldom, strange and vile as it may seem, 
Naked 3 for man was now so dev'lish grown, 
That there was horrid sympathy between 
Him and her dread deformity ; and round 
Her hideous figure thousands daily fiock'd, 
To woo her smiles — the very smiles of hell, — 
With bow obsequious and admiring gaze. 
Her eyes, 'tis true, were full of witchery, 
They were like serpent's eyes, on which the bird 
Gazing, becomes its victim 3 on her brows 
Was written " hell," but over it her locks 
Were turn'd so deftly, it requir'd the eye 
Of strict observance when the rough wind blew 
Aside those clustering ringlets, to discern 
That fearful word no stream could wash away. 
Woman she seem'd to middle, all below 
Was goatish 3 but a goatish appetite 
Had given to man such relish for her charms, 
He deem'd her lovely, and did woo her oft, 
Though all the while assured he did but w 7 oo 
Eternal death. 

The noisy bacchanal 
Rav'd like a madman, wine had turn'd his brain, 
Yet still he quaff'd, and quaff d, and quaff'd again, 
And since his sober thoughts brought nought except 



284 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Iniquity to mind, and conscience thrust 
Her venom'd stings deep in his writhing heart, 
When milder reason held a short-lived reign, 
He strove to drown her loud voice in the bowl, 
And drank away, till the lov'd poison work'd 
Corrosive on his vitals, and he sunk 
To reap the vengeance his whole life had sown. 
Debauchery at noon-day walk'd the streets, 
And stood half naked in the avenues, 
And bye-lanes of the cities ; throwing out 
Her lures to* entrap the' unwary steps of youth, 
And tempt them to partake forbidden joys. 
Kings were her slaves : Lords to her mansions drove 
In gilded equipage $ and shameless bards 
Did prostitute to her poetic charms, 
And sing so sweetly of unchaste delights, 
That many a heedless youth was led astray 
To seek for pleasure where he found but woe. 
It was an awful thing 5 the harps themselves 
Shrunk from the touch -, the strings essayed to' escape 
The busy fingers, and a master's hand 
Alone, amidst such jarring, trembling notes, 
Could bring forth melody. 

Adultery, 
With shameless front, obtruded herself oft 
Into society of every rank 5 
And such was honour in the world's esteem 
That it was thought sufficient recompense 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 2S5 

For robbing man of this life's choicest flower, 
To send the offer of a pistol ball, 
And tell your readiness, as you before 
Deprived of comfort, to deprive of life. 

Justice was manacled, (a padlock placed 
Upon her mouth,) and into prison cast ; 
Lest though in chains, nor able to harangue, 
The sight of her should rouse the vulgar horde 
To seek for what themselves w r ould seldom grant. 
Power held the place of law 5 and gold bought power. 
Oppression seiz'd the thunder-bolts of heaven 
To fright the groaning earth ; and liberty, 
Save in some portions of the world, had fall'n 
So fast asleep, 'twas thought she slept in death, 
To rise no more. 

Wisdom was driven stark mad 
With speculations wild, and nonsense, all 
Quite desultory, pester'd by the tongue 
Of fooiish, fond, enquiring man, till she 
Had lost her reason ; and was flown away 
To hide herself amidst the forest shades. 
And now they worshipped, in the room of her, 
Her sister, Knowledge 3 who resembled much 
In every outward feature, but in heart 
Was different far 5 and in her carriage too. 
For this was meek and humble, thinking not 
Too highly of herself 5 that, swoll'n with pride, 
And much puff'd up with idle self-conceit ; 



286 THE DEITY. [PART 1 

One was begot by heaven, and one by earth, 
Though both were children of the human mind ; 
This therefore to her native seats aspir'd ; 
That was content to grovel in the dust, 
And feast upon the flattery of fools. 
While man beneath her reign, forgetting all 
His former thoughts of immortality, 
Sought more to comprehend this mortal life, 
Dug low in earth, plung'd deep in ocean's gulph, 
Sever'd huge mountains, weigh'd the airy tides, 
And search'd heaven o'er by telescopic aid 
To make him wiser than his God, and prove 
His works imperfect, and His word a lie. 

But there were others, by profession fools, 
And these of various kinds 5 — one counted o'er 
A heap of yellow dust, and counted o'er, 
And o'er, and o'er again 5 and sighed to think 
That hoard too small which he could never use ; 
And spent his life in adding to the bulk, 
Then when the pangs of death came on his frame, 
Leap'd from his bed, grasp'd fondly to his heart 
A filthy bag, full of that glittering dross, . 
And in its cold embrace breathed forth his soul. 
Another strove to make himself the jest 
And laughter of his fellows, and perform'd 
Such antics/ that you might have well supposed 
He was a monkey who had seen a farce, 
And catching part of every character, 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 287 

Essayed with strange grimace to play the whole. 

Another followed pleasure's phantom form : 

And often, too, he followed with a heart 

Dark as the mournful cypress \ every day 

He met but disappointment, yet pursued [wept, 

His vision still 5 laughed, danced, groan'd, sung and 

And, sadly merry, danced into his grave. 

Then there were others, greater fools than these, 

The slaves of something which they " fashion" styled, 

Who oftener changed than do the winds of heaven, 

And, turning night to day, and day to night, 

Outwearied nature for they knew not what. 

Twas folly's hey-day ; but of ail the host 
Of idols, which were worshipp'd in those lands, 
That long profess'd to' abjure idolatry, 
Far' greater numbers sought the shrine of pride 5 
Accursed pride ! and oh ! how very few 
Of these believed the record of the skies, 
Or gave mere credence to salvation's scheme. 
Big with their greatness, with their goodness big, 
They seemed to' abominate the very thought 
Of being saved, — unconscious they were lost, — 
And by each action gave God's word the lie 
With open face. 

Yet still of every rank 
There were a few, whom God's peculiar grace [these, 
Had snatch'd as brands from burning, and 'mongst 
Friendship, which in the world almost gave place 



^SS THE DEITY. [PART III. 

To " smooth-tongued, hollow-hearted flattery," 

Love, such as links the body and the soul, 

Hope, that can look beyond the cloud-clad tomb, 

Peace, such as far surpasses human thought, 

And every grace and every virtue reigned : 

But, as you anxious sought about for these, 

With sinking, sadd'ning heart, you found them strewn 

So thinly, that had then the Son of Man 

Appeared, the question might have well been asked, 

« Shall He find faith on earth ? " 

Still there was fe#r. 
And great distress, and famine raging there 
In midst of plenty ; and, in spite of all 
Man's knowledge, which increased as years increased? 
His utmost sapience could not find a way 
To stem the march of poverty, or stay 
The course of crime. Senates debating sat, 
And, doing nought, dissolved. Councils decreed, 
Yet not themselves obeyed. And kings on thrones 
Trembled at portents of some awful change. 
For it w r as rumoured that a king should rise 
To break the nations with an iron rod, 
And stretch his sway to earth's remotest ends, 
Swallowing all kingdoms up ; whose lofty throne, 
Should be as 'twere an everlasting throne, 
'Stablish'd in peace, and truth, and righteousness. 
And many vigilant men on watch-towers stood, 
Who, looking on the heavens with thought profound, 
And casting round on earth a searching eye, 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 289 

From out the book of God proclaimed abroad 
Messiah's second Advent was at hand. 
But they were laughed at by the multitude, 
Who, spite of all their loud admonishings, 
Rolled in iniquity, and dragged it still, 
As with a cart-rope, after them ; though, yet, 
Fear in their hearts had dwelling, and their eyes 
Bespoke their bosoms' fear, as in the face 
Of all their mockings, and of all their scorn, 
These still proclaimed, with unabated zeal, 
Messiah's second Advent w T as at hand. 

But, black as were the features of these clays, 
They had some precious beauties. Zeal for Christ, 
E'en in this season of lukewarmness, burst 
Some few times into flame. The word of God 
Was spread o'er many lands; and, from the shores 
Of Britain, wafted by the church's prayers, 
Forth flew the warriors of the cross, to wage 
Battle with Satan in his captived climes ; 
Leaving, for love of souls, their home and land. 
To suffer hardness, and endure the cross. 
They sought the world's conversion — (large design. 
And worthy of a grace-enlarged soul 5) 
But yet too stubborn was the crooked world. 
And must remain so till its neck be broke, 
By the great King of kings. Still they fulfill' d 
The high designs of Him who sent them forth. 
And sped the' accomplishment of that great word 



290 THE DEITY [PART III, 

Which fell from the Redeemer's sacred lips, 

" The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 

For witness in all nations, ere I come." 

Yes ! these indeed were beauties 5 azure spots 

In a beclouded hemisphere 5 the salt 

That seasoned an ungodly land, and kept 

Heaven's wrathful judgments from its guilty doors. 

At length came smooth and philosophic times, 
An age of polish'd liberality. 
All things grew liberal 5 kings patriots turned • 
E'en statesmen sought to please the public mind 5 
Honor the watchword stood ; and glory's flame 
Would sometimes light a man to murderous deeds, 
Which were termed glory still. Old Discipline 
Was turned out barefoot from the' academies, 
As quite unneecled ; and expediency 
Had all the run, the chief ingredient stood 
In fitting out a man for every state. 
All things grew liberal ; would all had not, 
For e'en the church of God the' infection caught, 
And, with wide open'd arms of charity, 
Could clasp blasphemers to her tainted breast. 
Yea, e'en with infidels, Jehovah's bride, 
For worldly ends, was joined ; nay, these shook hands 
Most cordially as brethren in one cause. 
And bade God speed to them who own'd no God. 
True, there was something still on earth to' admire, 
Since 'twas indeed a patriotic age, 



nOKXI.] THE DEITY. 291 

And patriotism is no ignoble thing $ — 
For they who boldly for their country's rights 
Up 'gainst a tyrant's lawless edicts stand 
Are ever worthy of their country's praise. — 
But there's a higher patriotism ; and they 
Who boast the name of children of the Lord 
Should, from the very bottom of their hearts, 
Consider Zion's lasting welfare first 5 
And oh ! 'twas monstrous, it was horrible, 
That Liberty, the choicest gift of God, 
Of a mere temporal and earthly kind, 
Should be trump'd up the idol of the soul, 
Bowed down to as the goddess of the world, 
And worshipp'd in the place of Him who gave it. 

God held a controversy now with man ; 
And many were who heard His gracious words, 
And fled to Him for refuge ; but the most 
Sought from His hand to wrest the reins of earth, 
And, though He pleaded long with mighty voice 
(Convulsions, plagues, and famines), still denied 
His sovereign rule, and at His servants railed. 

Judge, by the fruits it bears, the stately tree, 
Not by its seeming. Liberality, 
A thing most noble, if 'tis not abused, 
May yet be overstrained 5 thus, now no more 
Scorned and accounted as a general foe, 
Forth from the ambush where he lay concealed, 
Stalked Infidelity abroad, unshamed 5 

o 2 



292 THE DEITY. [PART III 

With wily arts deceived the nations long, 
And, in despite that far in heathen realms 
Whole thousands nocked around the planted cross, 
And in despite that now towards Canaan's shore, 
From every quarter of the rolling world, 
Flocked Jacob's children to their heritage, — 
Like some huge mountain-torrent, in its course 
Widening and overturning, led them on, 
Unto the last tremendous battle-field, 
Of the Lord God Almighty. 

Heaven grew black ; 
The sun had fallen asleep upon his clouds; 
The moon was mourning her departed light j 
And stars to Hades seemed as rushing down. 
But there were awful and strange noises heard, 
Mutterings and thunderings, and a trumpet-note, 
And rattlings, as of angels' chariot wheels, 
Rushing to war in terrible array ; 
And frequent bursts of lightning shed their glare, 
Their blue glare all around ; when, suddenly, 
A voice, as sounding from its eastern verge, 
Cried, " Who is this that comes from Edom ? Who 
From Bozrah, with dyed garments ? glorious 
In Flis apparel, travelling in strength ?" 
Then, quick as thought, as thunder terrible, 
Another voice, from the opposing sphere, 
Answered, (i -Tis I, that speak in righteousness, 
Misrhty to save/' Ae;ain the first exclaim'd, 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 293 

'•'And wherefore art thou red in thine apparel ? 
Whv are thy garments crimson'd o'er like his 
That treadeth in the wine-fat r '' And, again, 
This answer echoed round the vault of heaven, — 
•'• Alone I trod the wine-press ; when I look'd 
Among the people, there was none to help, 
I wondered there was no man to uphold. 
So in mine anger I will tread them down 
And trample in my fury ; and their blood 
Shall sprinkle all my garments -, for the day 
Of treasured vengeance now is in my heart, 
And the glad year of my redeem'd is come." 

Creation shuddered. It was summer here ; 
The leaves were on the trees, and the broad fields 
Displayed their richest verdure ; blooming flowers 
Bedeck'cl the gardens 5 fruits, as yet unripe, 
But beautiful, hung on the orchards' boughs 
And the soft fragrance of the sunny banks 
Invited sleep, refreshing • all at once, [leaves, 

Grass wither'd ; flowers decayed ; trees lost their 
And unripe fruits fell rotten to the earth. 
There it was winter ; snows were on the ground , 
The hoar frost ruled \ the waters were enchained 
In the dark prisons of the icy king ; 
But, at that awful sound, winter exhaled 
His freezing breath no more ; the snow's fair hue 
Was turn'd to blackness ; heaven grew thicker still ; 
The frosts fled 3 and the shackles of the wave, 



294 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Bursting asunder, with full strength upheaved, 

Sent forth one hollow murmur to the clouds, 

Then sunk in slumber. Time could scarcely move 

His weary pinions 3 breathless with fatigue, 

He laid his head upon a broken cloud 3 

His scythe and hour-glass from his hands let fall 3 

And, trembling, deemed the moment come, when he 

Must, in the' abyss of vast eternity, 

Fall headlong, as to earth a meteor falls, 

And sets for ever. Then the sun became 

Black as hair sack-cloth 3 the deserted moon, 

Robb'd of his beams, wept tears of flowing blood 3 

And Nature, all aghast, stared wildly round 

With looks of fearful anguish. 

Wail, O earth ! 
Weep forests, hills, and mountains ! howl, ye vales ! 
The day of vengeance comes ! the martyrs' blood, 
That long for retribution cried to heaven, 
Is answered now ! The wine-press trodden is 
Without the city ! and the streaming blood 
Reaches the horses' bridles ! Gathers fast 
The tempest of the wrath of God 3 thick clouds 
Roll their huge burden upon thicker clouds 
Blackening all light's remains 3 and man, aghast, 
Up to the darkness turns a fearful eye, 
Portending horror 3 while the thunder's voice 
Shakes earth's foundations 3 and the lightning's blaze, 
Affording him a momentary gleam, 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. c 295 

Illumines Nature's ghastly features o'er, 

To shew pourt rayed how dreadful are her pangs \ 

Her throes how hideous ! Bursts, at length, the womb 

Of the impending storm, and gives new birth 

To death ; tremendous hail stones, scattered wide, 

Smite man, and beast, and fowl, and creeping thing : 

Groan answers groan ! shriek echoes back to shriek ! 

Famine on famine feeds ! war roars to war ! 

Fire lifts its awful crest and glares on fire ! 

Plague treads upon the heels of pestilence ! 

Death howls to death ! destruction to destruction ! 

And desolation, whirling high his sword, 

Flashes red lightning from his awful eyes 5 

Wallows in gore j and with triumphant peals 

Of laughter rends the sky 5 until, convulsed, 

All nature, travailing with strange pangs, upheaves 

One deep, long, hollow, universal groan, 

As though it were her last, her dying hour, 

Whilst Zion from the dust lifts up her head 

And cries, in transport, " Come, Lord Jesus, come !" 

Behold ! heaven opens ! glory bursts at once 
Upon the sight 3 Messiah, King of kings, 
And Lord of lords ! Hosanna ! sing aloud, 
Hosanna, hallelujah ! See the Lamb 
Comes in His wedding garments ! Hark ! the church, 
The New Jerusalem, His favoured bride, 
Arrayed in white, attending Him through heaven. 
Tunes her unnumber'd voices to the song, 



l -. ( >tJ THE DEITY. [PART III 

Hosanna ! hallelujah ! Angels join 

The glorious anthem in melodious tones, 

And through the skies re-echo far and wide 

Hosanna, hallelujah ! Saints on earth 

Catch the glad sound of joy, and, as they rise 

To meet their Lord in airy regions, shout 

Hosanna, hallelujah ! Earth, redeemed 

From thine oppressors, highly-favoured world, 

Thou birth-place and thou dwelling-place of God, 

Join every voice to swell the mighty choir, 

Hosanna, hallelujah ! Ocean, tune 

Thy never-ceasing music to the theme, 

Hosanna, hallelujah ! Mountains, hills, 

Groves, forests, vallies, lakes, and flowing streams. 

Speak your delight in one united strain, 

Hosanna, hallelujah! and let all 

The full creation the glad chorus join, 

Till the vast echo fills the realms of space, 

Hosanna, hallelujah ] praise the Lord ! 

Hear ye the songs of Jacob ? on the gale 
A murmur of enchanting harmony 
Is poured, and from the hills of Palestine, 
Breathed with the fervour of ten thousand hearts, 
Salutes my ear. Harps, such as David tuned, 
Again are strung in fair Jerusalem ; 
And mourning, as one mourns an only son, 
That they have pierced the Prince of life and peace. 



BOOK XI ] THE DEITY. 

Now Judah's children to their Saviour turn, 
And smiles of rapture shine through all their tear 
While thus his daughters wake the joyful song : 
i( He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, come- ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One ! 
He comes, attended by angelic hosts, 
Thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times 
Ten thousand ; Olivet's imperial brow 
At his approach shall kindle with delight ; 
And cleave where first his foot salutes the earti. 
He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One ! 
The King of kings has girt His flaming sword 
Upon His thigh ! the mighty One now rides 
Triumphantly ! To vengeance rous'd, His breath 
Consumes the nations like the Samiel's blast ; 
His arm hath gotten Him the victory. 
He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One ! 
He, clothed with Majesty, shall reign ; His sway 
Shall reach unto the farthest heathen lands ; 
To Him shall Ethiopia stretch forth 
Her hand, and Sheba own Him as her Lord ; 
And righteousness shall cover earth's broad face, 
As waters clothe the caverns of the deep. 
He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One S 
The long contending elements shall rest : 

o 5 



l 29& THE DEITY. [PART III. 

The hurricane has rock'd itself to sleep ; 
The vollied thunder shall forget to roar ; 
And fell tornadoes shall no more be heard. 
He comes ! The Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One ! 
Now shall the swords be into ploughshares beaten 3 
Spears into pruning hooks 3 nation shall not 
Lift sword 'gainst nation 3 neither shall they learn 
War any more ; that voice is hush'd 3 that strife 
No longer on the mountains shall be heard ; 
No longer shall the vallies flow with blood. 
He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One ! 
The lion with the lamb shall now lie down, 
And like the ox eat straw 3 the wolf and kid 
Feed peaceably together 5 the young child 
Play on the asp's hole, and the sucking child 
Shall roll upon the cockatrice's den. 
He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One ! 
The wilderness and solitary place 
Shall blossom as the rose ; the fir tree spring 
In the long trackless desert, — trackless now 
No more : the myrtle lift its lovely head 
Where late the fern gave signs of barrenness 3 
The garden smile like Eden in its bloom, 
And sweetest odours load the fanning gale. 
He comes ! the Jesus, the Redeemer, comes ! 
The God, the Bridegroom, the Anointed One. 



BOOK XI.] THE DEITY. 

Welcome His coming! shout aloud for joy! 
Shout hallelujah ! let Judea's vales 

Ring with the echo ! and her vine-crowned hills 

Bleat out afresh, The God ! the Christ is come ! 

We sing Thy wondrous works, Almighty King : 

We sing Thy honour and Thy Majesty, 

God of Sahaoth ; we will sweetly sing 

Thy mercy and salvation high ; and praise 

For ever evermore Thy lofty name !" 

Fairest of days that ever dawned on time, 

How wast thou welcome ! Death, as though aware 

That he must yield a portion of his store, 
And through the next succeeding thousand years 
Should gain but scant supplies, o'ergorg'd himself ; 
Till by his full meal prompted to repose, 
Fast lock'd in slumber for awhile he lay- 
On Lethe's banks ; when that angelic hand, 
Which chain'd the dragon down, enchain'd him too : 
And doom'd him to keen hunger's griping pains 5 
Obtaining only now and then a meal, 
And that a scanty morsel, the behest 
Of his long firm allies, Old Age and Sin, 
Which, when he saw approach, his starting eyes 
Would from their sockets leap for joy, his mouth 
Stand gaping open, and a hollow yell 
Roll through his stomach's subterranean caves 
Of " Famine, famine, give me, give me more !" 

END OF THE ELEVENTH BOOK. 



THE DEITY 



BOOK XII. 



ARGUMENT. 

The Millennium .— The last Apostacy. — The general Judgment 
and grand Consummation of all things. — Supplementary 
Address to Sceptics, and Hymn to the Deity. — Conclusion. 



BOOK XII. 



Hast thou e'er seen the sun of morning: burst 
Refulgent through the thick surrounding clouds 
That gathered at the eastern gate of heaven, 
As to obstruct his entrance ? This way these, 
Those that way, driven, like cowards they fly forth 
From the fair field of battle ; brighter grows 
The azure vault, and the illumin'd east 
Vies with the crimson of the damask rose 
In its deep blushes ; and exulting laughs 
The young day on us ? Hast thou e'er beheld 
When the rough tempest swells his giant lungs, 
Uprears the foaming billows to the clouds, 
And with his thunder rings the knell of death, 
A calm break on the waters, the blue heaven 



304 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Smile in serenity, and the big waves 
Still their hoarse murmurs to an evening song ? 
Sweet breaks the morning on the shades of night, 
Sweet is the calm where late the tempest howld, 
But sweeter the millennial reign of joy. 

Supreme in perfect loveliness, adorn'd 
As for her husband, is the beauteous bride, 
On the glad morning of their nuptial day, 
The new Jerusalem appear'd, the bride, 
The city of the Lord. She had no need 
Of sun or moon ; the lamb, Jehovah, was 
Her light -, and He the temple of her love, 
Through whom her praises to the Father rose. 
Fair was her form, and dazzling as the gems 
That grace the head of royalty, or hang 
Pendant from beauty's ears. Full in her midst. 
Forth issuing from the God-man's lofty throne 
A river rose 5 on whose delightful banks 
Rais'd their luxuriant heads the trees of life, 
Whose fruit was immortality. Fair was 
Her form, and dazzling as the radiant gems 
That grace the head of royalty, or hang 
Pendant from beauty's ears 3 and in her light 
Celestial all the peoples of the sav'd 
Walk'd, and the monarchs of the nations brought 
Their honour and their glory into her; 
Though entering not till for the grave unclothed, 
And clothed upon with an undying frame. 



BOOK XI I. J THE DEITY. 305 

And lovely too, on that auspicious day, 
That long expected, much disputed, time, 
Didst thou appear, my dear, my native world! 
Thou seem'dst a palace of the King of kings, 
But lately snatch'd from the arch-rebel's grasp, 
Where, tho' not throughly cleans'd, he deign'd to hold 
His court a season ; for it was the place 
Where He had bled and suffer'd, and reserv'd 
To be the scene of His last victory 
O'er death and hell, when both should be cast out 
For ever. In its midst, Jerusalem, 
Most beautiful for situation, stood, 
A praise and a rejoicing, and sent forth 
A light unto the Gentiles, known at last 
By her long promis'd name, iC The Lord is here." 
W^alk round about her, count her numerous towers, 
Observe her bulwarks and her palaces, 
That ye may tell it to your race to come ; 
It is the city of the Lord 3 He reigns 
In glory there -, the blest Shekinah fills^ 
The temple with its uncreated light 3 
And all the nations, by her children taught 
The knowledge of the true and living God, 
Come thither from the ends of earth to bow 
Before that God, and worship and adore : 
Wliile righteousness spreads over every land, 
As ocean with its waters covers o'er 
The hills and valleys of the great profound. 



306 THE DEITY. [PART IIF. 

Ere while mankind had rais'd a peaceful cry ; 
" Peace" was the war- word of each government, 
And neighbouring states responsive answer'd "Peace,'' 
While their vast armies they were gathering up, 
And swords and bayonets prepar'd to thrust 
Into each other's vitals. " Peace," they cried, 
And fitted out large armaments for fight , 
And "Peace" was echoed from the nations round, 
While blasphemy within their bowels raisd 
A spirit of unresting turbulence, 
That brew'd the cup of war, till suddenly, 
As travail overtaketh one with child, 
Destruction swept them with his besom-blast 
To ruin. But there now was peace indeed 5 
The fabled golden age, the poet's theme, 
Was come at last ; the Prince of Peace himself 
From Zion/s hill breath' d sweetest gales of love, 
Whose happy influence spread from zone to zone. 
Peoples no longer rais'd their shining arms 
To thrust each other in the jaws of death, 
And glut the monster with uusought-for prey. 
Ambition sprang no more from field to field ; 
But threw away his buckler and his blade, 
And sought (blest search !) to know the most of God. 
Envy to emulation gave her place, 
And, flying to her father where he lay, 
Fast chain'd in the unfathomable gulf, 
Hung on his bosom with deceitful smiles, 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 307 

Heightening his torments with her curs'd embrace. 

Revenge had slunk to hide him in his den : 

And Pride, that oft had woke the strife of spears, 

Or sent his idiots with a pistol ball 

To gain full satisfaction for a sneer, 

Casting aside all weapons form'd for strife, 

Was but a spur to firm integrity, 

And bow'd his head before the Lord of all. 

Come and behold the wondrous works of God, 

What desolations he hath made on earth ; 

He causeth wars to cease through every land ; 

He breaks the bow ; he cuts the spear in twain ; 

He burns the martial chariot in the fire \ 

And, with the sword that whilom drank man's blood, 

Makes furrows in earth's bosom to receive 

The precious seed whence vegetation springs. 

Blest desolations ! Desolation's self 

Grows desolate ! Destruction is destroy'd ; 

And the grim fiend of battle madly gnaws 

His own corroding entrails out, to feed 

His famine, till the thousand years are spent 

In which he's doom'd to fasting for his crimes, 

When, mock'd with one more gorge, he shall expire. 

The lion rested with the bleating lamb, 
And in the ox-stall sported with the calves, 
Partaking straw with them. The wolf and kid 
Wanton' d together on the flowery lawn. 
The dog and leopard in their frolics join'd. 



308 THE DEITY. [PART III 

The humming-bird perch'd on the open jaws 

Of huge leviathan, to pick his teeth 

Unharm'd. The rabbit and the rattlesnake 

Wander'd companions through the shady grove. 

The ring-dove shelter'd in the eagle's nest, 

And with her eaglets shar'd the fleshless meal. 

The infant strok'd the bosom of the asp ; 

And roll'd upon the cockatrice's den. 

The young child fed the serpent, as it wreathed 

Around him, fondly laid its head upon 

His neck, and lick'd his blooming cheeks. The boy 

From school returning climb'd the tiger's back, 

Or with a string conducted to his home, 

To join his playmates in their merry games. 

And man, oft wandering 'neath the forest shades, 

To meditate at noon on God and Christ, 

Upon creating and redeeming love, 

Lull'd by the balmy softness of the air 

To slumber, on awaking has beheld 

The bear, the panther, and the antelope 

Sweetly reposing at his feet 3 or felt 

The rough tongue of the lion on his hand, 

Who lick'd it, as a shepherd's dog was wont 

To lick the hand that gave his daily bread 

All, all w 7 as harmony ! the elements 
The blest contagion caught. The hurricane 
Had breath'd itself away. Volcanoes held 
Their wrath within, nor with its dreadful foam 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 309 

Cover'd the fertile tracts which at their feet 
Smil'd joyous, or in its destructive course 
Vast cities with the fiery deluge whelm'd. 
A sea storm was a terror obsolete, 
Recorded only in old chronicles. 
The gentle breezes of the tropics sung 
The wild tornado's lullaby. The breath 
Of Samiel grew cool, his thirst assuag'd : 
And Arabs, fearless of the dread Simoom, 
Pitched their gay tents amid the smiling plains. 

The orbs of heaven forgot their smiting power : 
The wanderer upon Lybia's sands, supine, 
Could sleep the night away, without the fear 
Of waking blinded by the lunar ray ; 
And 'neath his plantain and banana tree 
The Indian found a calm repose at noon; 
Nor needed now the broad-leav'd talipot, 
To shield him from the sun's intensest beams. 

The wilderness, a wilderness no more, 
Bloom'd as the rose. The solitary place 
Branch'd forth like Lebanon. The desert drear 
Became a fruitful field. Arabia 
Her spices and her gums produced in rich 
Abundance. And in Greenland's snowy heights. 
Forests of lofty pines serenely smiled, 
Fair as the sunbeams of a wintry day. 

But the bright changes in the moral world 
Far more delightful seem'd, for Pleasure's cup 



310 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Ran over. Hope, exulting, laugh'd at Fear, 

And mock'd him with curl'd linger 5 Friendship smil'd 

Without dissimulation 5 and young Love 

Was pure as Eden's roses, and as sweet. 

And sooth 'twas pleasing to behold the face 

Of Friendship open as the' unclouded heaven, 

An index of the soul indeed ; for then 

Was every friend a Jonathan, the strength 

Of whose sincere attachment far surpass'd 

What woman's had been j and confiding hearts 

But seldom were betray'd. And oh ! 'twas still 

More pleasing to behold the' ecstatic bliss 

Of youthful love 3 to see the happy pair 

In all their fondness 5 to reflect how once 

The worm of Care had gnaw'd the very core 

Of hearts like theirs away, and now to find 

Its tooth was broken. Yes, 'twas sweet indeed 

To watch the evening walk of courtship then 5 

When the pure passion of each heart disdain'd 

To hide itself, when not a cloud obscur'd 

The sun of love -, and no condensing fears 

Made winter in its balmy atmosphere. 

Coldness and coyness were alike unknown ; 

For unsuspecting confidence had thaw'd 

The icy spell that bound sweet woman's lips 

In ages past ; and fair sincerity 

Beam'd from each eye 5 while on each rosy cheek, 

Like sunbeams leaping through ethereal fields, 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 311 

Danc'd smiles of rapture ; and from either's lips 

Flow'd words mellifluent. Rack'd not with the thoughts 

Of danger, when the labours of the day 

(Labours scarce worthy of the name of toil,) 

Were over, midst some dear sequester'd shades 

Such fond ones oft would stray, to taste the cup 

Of blessing, and relate the tales of love, 

Ever the same yet ever new, that, like 

The most delightful scenes in nature, shew 

Fresh beauties always to the eye, and wake 

New rapture. Lions sported in their path ; 

Serpents around each other twin'd, and play'd 

Their thousand antics of delight 3 the wolf, 

At their approach, with wagging tail, would leave 

The kid, with which among the herbage tall 

He long had sported, to bespeak his joy 

At sight of human forms 5 the cooing dove 

Meander'd with its mate upon the lawn 3 

The young birds sang their vesper hymn of praise 

Among the fondly intertwining boughs, 

That deepened twilight 5 while the sinking sun 

Seem'd on the bosom of the clouds to lay 

His head in passion's trance ; and wandering on 

The gentle breezes from the lips of flowers 

Sipp'd kisses sweeter than ambrosia. 

The very scene was love 5 and their full hearts 

Expanding, felt their blissful flame increase 

Almost too greatly ; and their languid eyes, 



312 THE DEITY. [PART III' 

Those mirrors where their features they might trace 
Each graven on the other's soul, o'erflow'd 
With tenderness: while sinking on their knees 
To heaven they would uplift their swelling thoughts 
In speechless joy, and muse His boundless praise 
From whose overflowing love their transports sprung. 

Nor, as too oft in former years 'twas found, 
Did the blest raptures of the bridal moon 
Absorb the strength of love, and at their springs 
Dry up the streams of joy. Each day of bliss 
Was but a sweetner of the morrow's cup ; 
And all the smiling offspring of their loves 
Were but so many fresh links in the chain 
That bound them. From the parting stroke secure 
In youthful years, while virtue crown'd their lives, 
They train'd their children up in peace, and taught 
To fear and to adore the Lord of Love ; 
And oft saw numerous generations rang'd 
Around them, ere the summons-bearer came 
To take them to the garner of their God. 

Then, too, the various arts and sciences 
Which ever have been useful to mankind 
And render'd his life happier, or led 
To adoration of the King of kings, 
Fiourish'd. Astronomy no longer made 
The creature wiser than his God ; but rais'd 
His heart in humble love to Him who made 
The wonders he beheld. Philosophy 



BOOK XTI.] THE DEITY. 313 

Was deck'd in robes of regal state ; and crowned 

With the rich diadem of heavenly grace. 

And Poesy, that in the times gone by, 

Though oft to Satan's service desecrate, 

Still fanned devotion, and waked heavenly flame, 

Now soared into the loftiest heights of song ; 

And gazed undazzled on the throne of God. 

Swift passing years of pleasure ! man was then 
Blest with the choicest blessings 3 and the earth 
Robed in the garments he had worn before, 
The righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. 
Bat ah ! what means this thrill of horror? what 
This thickly overspreading gloom ? The winds, 
As with an universal tremor seized, 
Run shivering through the forest shades, whose trees 
Untimely drop their leaves 3 thick clouds on clouds 
Gather portentous o'er the firmament, 
Which groans as travailing in ominous birth ! 
And now, the first time of a thousand years, 
The thunder, bursting through its opening womb, 
Deep vollied, lifts its awful voice on high, 
And bellows loudly as the blasts of hell ■ 
While the blue lightning sheds an awful glare 
On Nature's darken'd, death-struck, trembling face : 
As Stygian volcanoes cast a light 
On Erebus, w T ith their sulphureous fires. 
'Twas past 5 the thickly-gathered shades dispers'd; 

p 



314 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

The sun again appeared — the setting sun; 
But ah ! it set in blood ; it wept a flood 
Of gore, that mingled with its evening beams 
And tinged with crimson the aerial tides. 
Weep, earth ! the Sabbath's past ! weep, hills, no more 
Shall ye be crown'd with beauty. Valleys, weep ! 
Your fatness is departed from you. Weep, 
Mountains ! and ye, from whose dark bosoms flow 
The mighty rivers of the earth, weep ye 
A double portion, till the streams o'erflow 
Their banks, and inundate the land with tears ! 
The Sabbath 's past ! weep rills and brooklets ! weep, 
Rivers ! your murmurs tune to mourning now. 
Weep, falling cataracts ! weep, Ocean ! weep, 
With all your floods, and all their waves ! lift up 
Your liquid mountains, till they touch the clouds, 
And heaven itself is melted into woe. 
The Sabbath 's past ! lords of creation, weep, 
Weep man ! weep woman ! let your infants suck 
Tears with your breasts' ambrosia, that their eyes 
May be made red with weeping. Weep, ye flocks 
And lowing herds, your peaceful days are o'er -, 
And forest beasts, howl ye a mournful strain, 
Your harmony 's destroyed. The Sabbath 's past ! 
Weep, meteors of the sky ! clouds, vapours, weep ! 
And ye that wander through the nightly heaven, 
With fiery crests, bright blazing in the dark, 
J^ike shooting stars, dissolve yourselves in tears. 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 315 

Weep all ! the Sabbath's past ! millennial joys 

Are past ; and now another trial comes ; 

And hell, unkennell'd, sends her legions forth 

To desolate again the realms of peace, 

Before the universal ju bilee, 

The immortality of glory, dawns ; 

When the last deep groans of expiring Death 

Shall echo through a vast immensity, 

The dwelling-place of God. 

Dark midnight spread 

Its deepest shades, where hell's inveterate host, 

Released from prison, reached the hapless world 

They long had ruled. Earth shudder'd as she felt 

Their footsteps on her breast ; and all her winds, 

Her gentle zephyrs, and her swelling gales, 

Sighed heavily ; while all her rocks, and caves, 

And hills, and vales, and glens, and forests heaved 

Responsive sighs. The lion in his den, 

Upstarting, shook his shaggy mane. The wolf 

Bristled his hair with wonder. Eagles looked [wings 

Forth from their nests, and, cowering, spread their 

More closely o'er their callow young ones. Men, 

In the thronged cities, from their houses rush'd, 

Each one to ask his neighbours what they heard. 

Children, awakened from their slumbers, threw 

The bed-clothes o'er their heads with trembling hands, 

And the lorn traveller, afar from home, 

Quick eri'd his pace, presaging such a storm 

As scarcely yet had visited the earth ; 

p 2 



316 THE DETTY. [PART III. 

Or that the end of all things was at hand. 

Up, Infidelity ! thy day is come \ 
The great day of thy power. With rapid strides 
It stalked across the earth, and, in its course, 
Swallowed whole nations up. The man whose lips 
Denied the being of a God regained 
The name of a philosopher; the sons 
Of science scorned the word of truth, and shewed 
The fallacy of all that it contains ; 
But most the narrative that Moses gives 
Of the creation j well demonstrating, 
Quite well enough to satisfy the mind 
Determined upon being satisfied, 
That matter was eternal - y and each world 
The unprotected progeny of chance, 
Or of the bard's " sublime necessity." 
And former sceptics' writings, by the breath 
Of hell uprais'd from graves where long they lay, 
Again were hurried though the public press, 
To prove that people were not always gull'd 
With idle stories of the Nazarene, 
Of God incarnate, and the Three in One. 

The harmony that in their fathers' days, 
Had blest the earth (if it indeed had been, 
Which much they doubted) they could now perceive 
Was but a tame submission to the yoke 
Of kingly/priestly Israel, who contrived 
To send their autocratic edicts forth^ 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. d\\ 

And, like the Druids of old Albion, 

Rule with a kind of theologic rod 

Till they became the masters of the world. 

That Israel, with stupid bigotry, 
Should seek to keep the Christian system up, 
Was not so greatly to be wonder'd at, 
They were too much the gainers by the trade, 
Without compulsion to relinquish it $ 
But how the fathers of the present race 
Of sceptics could have been deluded so, 
By such a tribe of arch designing knaves, 
They could not have imagined, were it not 
That superstition in dark ages holds 
So great an influence o'er the human mind ! 
Howe'er themselves they could not brook the thought 
Of going yearly, at such vast expense, 
To that great den of priests, Jerusalem, 
To hold a feast, and such like trumpery, 
In honor of the Israelitish God ; 
And were resolved to ope their children's eyes, 
And break their chains in spite of consequence. 
Philanthropy and patriotism both 
Demanded it 5 and, if blood must be spilt, 
The cause, at least, would consecrate the deed. 

Thus worked the leaven ; and there wanted not 
A hand to knead it. Satan, as aware 
His time was short, with double vigour toiled, 
Resolved to make quick work, if possible, 

p3 



318 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Of this the last apostacy. The race 

Of Israel alone unflinchingly 

Stood for the cause and honor of that God, 

The symbol of whose presence they beheld 

In the bright glory which the temple fill'd ; 

And met the nations with a stern rebuke, 

Who disregarded his authority, 

Or dared refuse the homage he required. 

Indignant but the more, at what they termed 
A stern denial of the rights of man, 
The sceptic habitants of earth displayed 
Increased dissatisfaction. Peoples called 
Upon their kings j kings to their peoples gave 
Approving answers. The bright blaze of light 
That filled the temple of the Lord of Hosts, 
They deemed but the effect of chemic arts, 
Practised to lead unthinking folks astray 3 
And men of science, in their theatres, 
Shewed new Shekinahs to the wondering throng ; 
Till, hardened in iniquity, like one 
Walking in sleep, they madly rusb'd, unscared, 
On to the precipice's edge. 

War blew 
His clarion loud 3 and gather'd every rank, 
Beneath his blood-stain'd banner. Youth, that scarce 
Could wield the sword 3 old age, that bent beneath 
The musket's weight 3 and manhood, in his prime, 
From all the quarters of the world came forth, 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 319 

With shouts of "liberty " for blasphemy 

Can ever find a spice to choke the fumes 

Of her sulphureous breath. They compass'd all 

The breadth of earth ; and numerous as the sands 

Upon the ocean shore their bands appear'd, 

Enthusiastic in so good a cause — 

The freedom of the world. Their glittering arms 

Reflecting back the brilliance of the sun, 

Their standards widely floating on the air, 

Pregnant with blasphemy ; away they flew 

With shouts of exultation towards the camp 

Of Israel, resolv'd to' exterminate 

The hateful race. And what were all their hosts, 

When match'd with such an overwhelming foe ? 

But One, Almighty, watcheth over them, 

Who now is dar'd to battle, not to prove 

His faithfulness to His recorded word, 

Not to fulfil His ancient promises, 

But to assert His being. Hark, those cries ! 

" Come forth, Jehovah ! mightv One, come forth ! 



Stand, thou dread Spirit, 'gainst our rushing spears ! 
Now send a hail-storm down, and let each stone 
Be a full talent's weight ! Come ! come along 
Upon the lightning's wing ! ha ! ha ! no more, 
Imposters, shall the bugbear name of God, 
Fit but to fright a peevish child withal, 
Keep a whole world in bondage. We defy 
Your Lord and you. — Impetuously they rush'd 



320 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

On ; when such sudden darkness overspread 

Their path, as though the sun was instant flung 

Headlong to Erebus ; and midnight worse 

Than Chaos reign'd. Prone from their palsied hands 

Their weapons fell ; a stiff'ning horror spread 

Through all their limbs, and up they turn'd their eyes 

Expectant, wildly gazing on the dark. 

One only thunder-peal was heard, but such 

A peal, it seem'd as Nature's frame had crash'd, 

Or as all heaven's artillery had pour'd 

A volley simultaneously forth ; 

And every cannon on its battlements 

Had burst in this the last dread shock of rage. 

Then, on the wings of exultation, flew 

The lightning down, and meeting from beneath 

Upleaping fires, devour'd the' apostate hosts $ 

And, spreading wide its ravages, lick'd all 

The oceans up, and swallow'd all the lands, 

Till the whole earth became one ball of fire. 

The scene was chang'd 5 a great white throne ap- 
In midway air; and on it sat in state, [pear'd 

Bright as the sun, with hue of sardine stone, 
The King of kings, the manifested God. 
The living saints were in a moment's space 
Transfer m'd from mortal to immortal : death 
Felt his own venom rankling in his breast, 
And sickening, as he rais'd his dying eyes, 
Loos'd from his grasp each atom of his prey. 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 32 1 

The earth and sea gave up their dead 3 the grave 

And Hades gave up theirs \ and all appear'd 

Before the judgment-seat of Christ. It was 

An awful scene. By power omnipotent, 

Parted in separate throngs on either hand, 

The sav'd and lost were seen. Distinctions else 

Were all no more. In congregated mass, 

Were those of every land, and every rank, 

Erewhile distinguished. In the tyrant's face 

The rebel turn'd his wildly glaring eyes, 

Both damn'd. The thief and executioner 

Stood side by side condemned ; and, near his judge 

The culprit vented curses on the lips 

That doom'd him, yet unpardoned, to the grave. 

The man of fashion, who had squander' d all 

His father's wealth, to prove himself a fool, 

Was by the miser rang'd, who prov'd the same 

In a far different way, by hoarding up 

His golden treasures safe from mortal eyes, 

In utter uselessness. The man of faith, 

Who begg'd his bread, was neighbour now to him 

Who oft had lent the aid of this world's goods, 

And smil'd to own him as a brother still. 

Kings, magistrates, and subjects, masters, slaves, 

Merchants and pedlars, all were there alike 5 

For ranks, distinctions, mitres, sceptres, crowns, 

Armorial bearings, orders of renown, 

And all the insignia of mortal pomp, 



'S'12 THE DEITY. [?ART III. 

Were, by the scavenger that swept the tombs, 
Cast in Oblivion's furnace 3 and as men 
Naked they stood before the Judge of all, 
To meet a doom accordant with their deeds. 
An awful silence first prevail'd, in which 
Each with anticipations blest or curst, 
Pelt heaven or hell begun. But not long time 
It reign'd ; for turning to the right thus spake, 
With smiles that lit all suns with tenfold beams, 
And made the universe stand wonder-struck 
At their new radiance, the Son of God : — 
" Blest of my Father, people of my choice, 
Who while on earth confessd me as your Lord, 
And humbly sought to glorify my name, 
Though sometimes feebly grappling with the foe, 
Your toils are o'er ; your sorrows done away ; 
Your joy begun. Ye have been faithful o'er 
A few things -, now o'er many shall ye rule, 
Joint-heirs with me of all things ; and made kings 
And priests unto my Father and your God, 
Rapture and immortality are yours." 
Then turning to the left, with such a frown 
As blacken'd every light in nature, thus 
He said : — " Ye rebels, who my sceptre spurn'd, 
Denied and scorn'd me, ye whom I have wooM 
With outstretch'd arms, and kindly bade you come, 
But bade in vain -, who turn'd your backs on love ; 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 323 

Who beard not judgments, nor e'en Mercy's voice, 
Or, hearing, heeded not ; who, in your pride, 
Disdain'd my words, — now in the Nazarene 
Behold your God • the death ye chose receive ; 
And reap the dreadful whirlwind ye have sown. 
With the foul spirits whom on earth ye lov'd, 
Depart, ye curst, to everlasting fire, 
Where all the echoes to your groans shall be 
The howlings and the wailings of the damn'd." 

He ceas'd. Up-springing to receive her prey, 
Hell ope'd her flaming jaws, and down they sunk 
Into her bowels, to be borne away 
Beyond the visible creation's bounds ; 
W riile from the saints a song of rapture rose, 
Hosanna ! hallelujah ! and through all 
The sin-polluted elements, the work, 
The purifying, re-creating work 
Of fiery baptism in its might raged on. 

All is fulmTd ; each tittle, and each jot 
Of Holy Writ has met accomplishment ; — 
The being and the nature of its God 
Are to the creature manifested plain 3 — 
The wonders of redemption are complete \ — 
Finite existence made immutable, 
By marriage with the Uncreated One ; — 
The Deity's dread sword of naming wrath 
Is sheathed for ever in the depth of hell 3 — 



394 TILE DEITY. [PART III. 

And sin and death from all creation cast ; — 
And now begins the better state of things,, 
When through a boundless immortality, 
And through a vast immensity, save where 
Justice bright blazes in the lake of fire, 
Goodness and love alone shall be display'd ; 
And Christ, the man, now gives the kingdom up 
In full perfection to the' Eternal Sire, 
That God the Father may be all in all. 

And now, oh Sceptic ! still unsatisfied, 
Dost thou put questions forward, to arraign 
Unbounded wisdom at thy reason's bar 5 
Demanding why the Son of God should come 
And lay His life down for this humble world, 
When He possess'd so many millions more r — 
And wherefore 'tis that evil now exists 3 
And why 'twas brought into the universe ? 
The first let Chalmers answer, who has shewn 
'Tis not for thee to say redemption's scheme 
Involves the earth alone ; where God is mute, 
Silence becomes the creature : but e'en grant 
It were so, it detracteth not from God 
That thus His love and mercy could not brook 
That e'en one world should perish, though around 
Were millions more that had not sunk in sin. 
Nor does the smallness of the field, on which 
Such deep displays of Deity are made, 
(And oh, how deep !) decrease their full effect, 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 325 

While all the lengthful march of time, which shews 

His moral being in a light so fair, 

Not more proportion bears to* eternity 

Than earth to that immensity in which 

She holds her revolutions. To the last 

I answer, evil did not come from God, 

But from the creature. God Himself could not 

Create a God, and mutability 

A sure inherence is of creatureship 5 

And as pure spirit, and as spirit joined 

With matter, it has been, is being, proved 

That, left one moment wholly to itself, 

A moral creature is an Infidel 5 

Deems the possession lent him is his own ; 

And scorns to' acknowledge his Creator's dues. 

Angels and man God perfect made 3 and blest 

With freedom of the will, which proved their bane. 

For of their own will they let evil in, 

Rebelling against Him whose righteous claim 

Was all the glory all their powers could give 5 

And justice doom'd them to eternal death, 

Though love and mercy had devised a way 

For conservation. Dost thou still enquire 

Why, when Omniscience must have been aware, 

(Before this wondrous universe was formed, 

Before angelic beings rose to life, 

Before Eternity felt labouring pangs, 

The pangs that brought Duration into birth 

Q 



326 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

Before the Word the Father's bosom left. 
As a lamb slain, the Christhood to assume,) 
That men and angels both would damn themselves, 
He should create them ? It were better, far, 
Since thus the being of a God is prov'd, 
To bow thy puny reason in the dust 5 
And own the Judge of all things must do right. 
Yet e'en this question, deep as it appears, 
Is not unanswerable. In some way, 
Is evil's being reconcileable 
With all the moral attributes of God, 
Since it is manifest that both exist, 
Though to each other opposite as light 
And darkness are. And there are various ways, 
In which an answer might perchance be given ; 
All than the question far more plausible. 
For though 'tis not for Christians to assert 
Aught, as a fact, which yet is unreveal'd, 
Or plunge into the light ineffable, 
Far, far too dazzling for a finite eye, 
In which the deep things of the Deity- 
Are all involved, — yet Christians may surmise, 
When sceptics rail 3 provided it be done 
To stop the mouths of gainsayers \ and shew 
That reason, in Religion's holy cause, 
Although she bows to revelation's page 
Is not struck dumb. And surely it may be — 
And though the false philosopher may jeer. 



BOOK XII.] \ THE DEITY. 327 

The man of science carp ; and with a laugh 

(The feeble echo of Hell's thunder-peals,) ■ 

The intidel may rub his eyes to see 

If he be dreaming, scarcely crediting 

A brother man should utter thoughts so vague, 

Not all the power of human intellect, 

With all the aid that science gives to boot, 

Can prove that it is not so — it may be, 

We're now but in creation's vestibule, 

And acting the mere prelude unto joy, - 

Immortal, universal. It may be 

That it was needful for the Deity, 

His being and His nature first to prove, 

And try the creature in all forms and ways, 

To shew his innate mutability, 

To shew his innate utter nothingness, 

Ere by inhabiting his inward parts, 

His goodness can flow free. And when at length 

The great preliminary work is done, 

When every obstacle hath been remov'd, 

When the short season that he must endure 

The hardness of the vessels fit for wrath, 

Who on their own heads drag damnation down, 

Has pass'd away, — when time, woe-speaking time, 

That fragment of duration is no more, 

When conservation and destruction shew, 

Shew perfectly, the creature and the God, 

Then as the good one can he freely act, 



328 THE DEITY. [PART III. 

And keep His moral creatures safe from ill, 
By dwelling with, and dwelling in them all, 
For ever and for ever. 

Lord of all ! 
Author of all but evil, which is Thy 
Creation's own creating, King of kings, 
Unsearchable, Incomprehensible, 
Be this conjecture right, or be it nought 
Except an idle dream, Thy ways are just, 
And my weak lips Thy goodness shall confess, 
E'en though Thou smite me. If I've miss'd my way, 
Or only sung a little part of Thee, 
What marvel ? I am but a worm of earth -, 
And who by searching can discover Thee, 
Or understand Thee to perfection ? God 
Of gods ! Jehovah ! sacred Trinity ! 
Essentially existent One ! Being, 
And source of beings ! who can turn his eyes 
On Thee, and gaze undazzled ? who can muse 
On Thee, and not be wilder'd, lost in thought, 
E'en as a vagrant atom would be lost 
In the vast fathomless immensity ? 
Begun in weakness, carried on alone 
By strength imparted to the present hour, 
I know my song imperfect, incomplete, 
But how should it not be ? seeing I sing 
A mystery wonderful, ineffable ! 
Oh, had I worn a thousand harp strings out, 



BOOK XII.] THE DEITY. 329 

Till by the friction of the sacred wires 

All my heart's life-blood from my fingers flow'd ; 

Could all my breath be spent in singing Thee, 

And the last word that falter'd on my lips 

And died with me in utterance be Thy name, 

It were imperfect still. Thy praise ! Thy praise ! 

Who shall declare it fully ? Here ! ah ! here 

Dread immortality itself is lost,, 

And everlasting ages sink beneath 

The burden of the all-absorbing strain. 

Farewell then, harp, a season 5 here we'll close 
This section of our song 5 section indeed 
How small ! for oh ! the great, the* exalted theme 
(Thanks be to Him that sitteth on the throne, 
And to the Lamb), shall dwell upon my lips 
For ever. God ! — ah ! yes, He made me first ; 
And when I wander'd in the wilds of sin 
He too redeemed me ; nor shall He cease to hear 
The feeble murmurs of my feeble praise, 
While one hour of duration yet remains, 
And lives the spirit that can never die. 

'Tis done ! the lay is finishTd, not without 
Great toil perform'd ; much sacrifice of ease, 
Grateful to him who labours hard and long, 
(Much loss of needful rest ; but duty call'd) 
For protest of the' emancipated muse, 



330 THE DEiTr. [part 

Gainst the delusion that enthrall'd me long. 
And now, oh God Most High ! if such Thy will, 
Let this small tribute of a sinner's thanks 
Be made a lasting blessing to my kind, ; 
And all the praise and glory shall be Thine 
For ever and for ever more. Amen. 



THE END„ 



B. BENSLEVj PRINTER, ANDOVER. 




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